The Young And The Hopeless
by ThnksFrThMmrs87
Summary: They were two completely different people, with conflicting goals and separate lives. Circumstances brought them together as unlikely allies, and together they could just have the power to change the status quo, and change each others lives. Complete!
1. Chapter 1

Note From The Author—So this is my first Glee story, and I'm hoping you'll forgive me any bumps in the road since I'm still trying to find my footing with this particular area. This will be a multi chapter to fill the horrid void that soon be left until April due to freaking American Idol. Feedback, as long as constructive, is always appreciated. Let me know how I'm doing!

Disclaimer—I do not own the characters of Glee, and the song used herein belongs to Nickleback

"I told you to leave her alone Puckerman!"

Rachel Berry came to a screeching halt outside the classroom door as she head Mercedes' words. What were Mercedes and Noah even doing together?

"Look, this isn't your business! This is between me and Quinn."

Outside, Rachel dared a glance into the room just in time to see Mercedes back Puck into a wall with a loud smack.

"Quinn made her decision Puck, and she chose Finn, again. She doesn't want you in that baby's life."

She was up in his personal space, and he got right back up in hers. "It's my baby too. She doesn't just get to decide everything!"

Mercedes snorted. "Please, we all know what you do with your spare time. You don't get to decide anything because you can't even manage to focus your attention on one girl for more than five seconds. Santana and Rachel ring a bell?"

At the sound of her name Rachel jerked back, hiding behind the door. This couldn't be happening. Could it?

"Get something through your head, Jones." His voice was low and dark, just edging on threatening. "Just because I got pissed and let all this shit slip doesn't mean you get a say in anything. You think I don't get that I'm a fuck up? I got that. But I also get that I'm not going to walk away from this. Do whatever the hell you want, but don't expect me to abandon my daughter."

The sound of heavy footfalls had their unknown witness fleeing down the hall, but she turned just in time to see the pair of them exit the classroom. Puck was first, glowering at anything and anyone who got in his way as he turned left; Mercedes came soon after, frowning unhappily as she went right.

As her fellow Glee clubbers went their separate ways, Rachel fell back against the nearest locker, her heart beating a rapid tattoo. She couldn't pretend that she didn't know what she had just heard. Knowing it all gave her too much power and she didn't know how she would face Finn at practice that day. But more than that, the giant enigma that was Noah Puckerman had suddenly become just a little bit less of a mystery. Suddenly something unknown came over her, and though she never thought that it would have been her intent, she found herself heading left down the hall.

* * *

It hadn't taken a genius to figure out where Puck had gone after he had stormed away from his latest confrontation. Between the direction he had gone and the guitar in his hand it was a sure bet that he had gone to the auditorium. Though he had joined Glee with ulterior motives, Rachel had seen the supposed jock blossom under Mr. Schuester's tutelage. He liked to play it cool, but it was clear how much he enjoyed playing the guitar and he could belt one out just as well as Finn and Kurt. It was also proving to be some sort of an outlet for him seeing as the frequency of his fistfights had at least lessened.

Later Rachel would have to examine why it was that she had gone after Puck instead of running straight off to tell Finn the truth and open her arms to him, but in the moment she only knew that something was wrong, and she wanted to fix it.

She opened the door to the auditorium quietly, not wanting to disturb Noah if he was in the middle of something. Sure enough he was sitting on a stool at center stage, turned on an angle away from the door and strumming his guitar. He was so lost in himself that he didn't seem to see her; so without hesitancy she took a seat and listened to him play. It was a song she knew well if only because it had been on the radio so much. The tune was somewhat melancholy, and it seemed to fit his mood to a t. Settling in, she let her bag slide to the floor, closed her eyes and listened.

The song spun out slowly, and Puck could feel his emotions bleeding into the words. "And in the air the fireflies, our only light in paradise. We'll show the world that they were wrong and teach them all to sing along. Sing amen I, I'm alive. Singing amen I, I'm alive. If everyone cared and nobody cried, if everyone loved and nobody lied…" He trailed off as his voice cracked. When the hell had he become such a wuss? With a sigh, he spoke without lifting his head from his guitar. "What are you doing here Berry?"

Rachel just about jumped out of her skin as he spoke. "How did you know I was here?"

"It's an epic mystery with your terrifying ninja powers," he drawled sarcastically. There was a dead silence and he looked up into her frowning face. "I heard the door shut, Berry. What do you want?"

"Well first off, considering that your hand has been on my behind and you spent a week calling me baby, I think you could manage to use my name."

His eyes just about rolled into the back of his head. "Fine. What do you want RACHEL?"

She stood, smoothing her skirt down as she rose to make her way up the stairs onto the stage. "I saw you leave the rehearsal room, and I thought something might be wrong."

Puck finally looked up at her, his eyes filled with something she couldn't quite decipher. "I'm fine B… Rachel." He gave a half hearted smirk that gave away the oncoming innuendo. "I'm always fine."

Now it was her turned to roll her eyes. "I'm sure you want to pretend you are, but clearly you're deflecting." She was floundering, not knowing what to do with herself in this situation. "You and Mercedes looked pretty upset when you went your different ways a minute ago."

"Leave it alone," he growled.

"I know," she whispered quietly.

He stiffened. "You know what?"

Rachel's eyes were sad as she looked down at him. "The baby is yours isn't it Noah?"

"Is there any use in me pretending that you're not right?"

"I heard you and Mercedes arguing earlier." Her hand came to rest on his arm. "Noah, I'm so sorry."

Puck shrugged her hand off angrily. "Whatever Berry." He let his guitar drop to the floor as he moved away from her to sit on the edge of the stage.

She shook her head. "Please don't pretend it doesn't matter to you. I heard you talking about her."

"It doesn't matter."

"But it does." Rachel followed his path to the edge of the stage and struggled to sit without flashing him. She noted that he was still Puck enough not to offer her a hand, but that he was consumed enough by his thoughts not to sneak a peak at her legs when she sat. "Whatever has happened between you and Quinn she's carrying your baby, and you should have a say."

He gave an exasperated sigh. "Why the hell did you even come in here? Shouldn't you have gone running off to tell Finn what you heard so that you can get him all to yourself?" he asked bitterly.

Rachel shook her head. "You may not see us as friends Noah, but I do. We may have only dated for a little while but I feel like there's a connection between us; enough of a connection that what I heard made me worried for you."

For probably only the second or third time in his life, Noah Puckerman was momentarily speechless. Nobody other than his mother and little sister had ever given two shits about him, and suddenly this teeny little Glee freak with her practically non-existent skirts and her crazy Broadway ambition seemed to actually care what happened to him and how he was feeling. He didn't know what to do with it. "Why?" he asked quietly, his eyes meeting hers.

"I told you, I'd like to think we've become friends. I care about you, Noah, even if you don't want me to."

It caught him off guard, and after months of keeping quiet about things to anybody other than Quinn, he found himself wanting to break down and tell this strange girl everything. Their eyes were still locked together, and he saw hers soften even more as some of what he was feeling slipped through. "Nothing I want matters anyway. I screwed up Rachel. I slept with my best friend's girlfriend and knocked her up."

"That doesn't mean you can never go back."

"Sure, because I've done a real great job since I found out Quinn was pregnant. Offering her the money for Artie's bus and sexting with Santana while we were babysitting, dating you to try and screw with her."

She shook her head. "Why do you do it then, if you know it's so wrong?"

"I don't know." Puck looked down at his hands. "I'm good at being a callous bad ass, and yes I know what callous means."

Scooting closer, Rachel tried to keep the conversation rolling. "You know I would never question your badassness Noah, but I think we both know there's more to this, and to you, than just sex appeal and lovely arms."

Sometimes he could barely decipher the things she said, but this time he managed and shook his head. "I told you, none of this matters, because she doesn't want me involved. I've tried to prove that I can be a good father, and I manage to screw it the hell up every time."

What she was about to do was a risk, but she felt it was one worth taking. Reaching out, she took her hand in his, twining their fingers together. Noah's hand tightened momentarily then relaxed into the grip of her delicate fingers. "You love her don't you, the baby?"

"More than I've ever loved anything." He looked over at her with a faux severe look. "But I'll shove you in a trash can if you ever tell anyone I actually have feelings."

Rachel smiled back. "Your secret's safe with me."

They sat there in silence for a while, neither of them quite sure where to go from that point. Finally, with tears in his voice that he would swear up and down had never been there, Puck spoke. "I want that baby."

He had opened up to her, and that made her even more bold than she had been moments before. Taking another huge risk, she leaned her head against his shoulder, and when he didn't pull away she sighed against his t-shirt. "I know, Noah."


	2. Chapter 2

Note From The Author—I am absolutely overwhelmed and ridiculously gratified at the outpouring of response I've had to this story! It's been a very long time since I've had so many people reading, and you don't know how thrilled I am that you're enjoying it. I'm hoping to update with relative frequency, so I hope you'll stick around. Thanks so much!

Rachel wasn't quite sure what had transpired between her and Noah in the auditorium but she managed to resist the urge to try and figure out a label. There were bigger things going on. They sat there in the auditorium for the rest of the lunch period, rising only when the bell rang. After all, Rachel's academic sensibilities wouldn't allow her to miss class unless someone was bleeding or dying. They had made it to the auditorium doors when Puck reached out to pull her to a stop.

"Rachel…"

The brunette flashed him a sad smile. "Don't worry, Noah. I won't tell anyone about any of this."

He shifted a bit uncomfortably, staring at his shoes for a moment before managing to look her in the eye again. "Thanks, but I also wanted to say…."

"Yes?" she prompted gently when he hesitated.

His hands went to his pockets in a typical Puck defensive move before he continued. "Thank you, you know, for caring."

Then she smiled that smile that could light up an entire freaking room and stood on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. "Always, Noah." Then with a swish of her pleated skirt she was gone.

* * *

Though Rachel had tried to keep her focus throughout the remainder of the day, she kept flashing back to everything that had happened that day at lunch. She didn't really know why Noah had opened up to Mercedes of all people, but it was clear that the girls had incredibly different opinions on the situation. So in typical Rachel fashion, she made up her mind to talk to her fellow Glee member that afternoon at practice. It wasn't really all that difficult considering that she was always the first to get there. It was simply a matter of taking up residence in Mercedes and Kurt's habitual seats and waiting. She was lost in thought when her target got there.

"What's up girl?"

The voice shook Rachel from her reverie and she smiled up at the girl she had come to think of as a friend. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Okay," she drawled as she sat down. "What about? If this is about the Proud Mary solo we have so already had this conversation. I'm not giving it up and if you think I am you've finally lost your mind."

"I don't want the solo; it was practically made for you. Plus I have my own solos to worry about," she couldn't help but add primly. "No, I heard you and Noah arguing at lunch today."

Mercedes' eyes narrowed. "Me and Puck? How much did you hear?"

"All of it. Certainly enough to gather that it wasn't the first conversation you've had, and enough to know that I want you to leave him alone."

She shook her head. "Please tell me you're joking." She was on her feet, staring down at Rachel incredulously. "You really think he can be a better father than Finn?"

Rachel sprang to her own feet, meeting Mercedes eye to eye. "I think he deserves a chance to be. You don't have to like it but that's his daughter, and he wants her."

"Want in one hand and…."

She held up her hand. "Please don't be vulgar, you're better than that. I wanted to talk to you face to face because I respect you, and I'm asking you to respect this."

They were glaring at each other when Kurt chose that auspicious moment to make his usual bubbly entrance into the classroom. He saw the standoff between the two resident leading ladies and sat down on a stool to watch them, his legs crossed neatly. "Are you two finally going to have a full on diva fight?" he questioned. "If so I'm judging."

The new presence finally broke some of the tension between the two of them, and Mercedes sighed. "For some reason I sure don't get, you seem to care about the boy, so I'll lay off him."

"Thank you I…"

She held up finger. "But…. He either needs to man up or walk away. You tell him that for me."

Ignoring the questioning look Kurt shot both of them, Rachel nodded. "I will, and I'm glad we understand each other."

By the time the rest of the Glee club began to straggle in, Rachel was seated right up front, waiting for Mr. Schue's arrival. She and Mercedes were gladly pretending that nothing had happened between them, but when Puck walked in and Mercedes nodded at him, he knew something had gone down before his arrival. That was the first acknowledgement of his existence the girls had made other than screaming at him in weeks.

He shot Berry a questioning look, but she only offered a soft smile. Now Noah Puckerman may have been a certified grade A badass with a reputation to maintain, but if he had learned anything in his life it was to never turn down an ally; and Rachel was on his side like nobody had ever been. So he braced himself for the potential fallout and took a seat up front next to the teacher's pet.

"Good afternoon Noah."

As it had when they had been in the middle of their short relationship, her prim and proper language somehow managed to both aggravate him and turn him on all at the same time. "Hey," he replied.

The rest of the club was trickling in, and neither of them missed the looks that some of their friends shot them at their obvious proximity, Finn and Quinn included. Even Mr. Schue did a bit of a double take, but he recovered easily and got to work.

"Okay, Proud Mary, let's go everyone."

* * *

When practice was over and they had rehearsed Proud Mary and Don't Stop Believin' into the ground, Puck slung his guitar over his shoulder and waited for Rachel to gather her books. "You need a ride?"

Despite everything that had happened that day, she still looked a bit surprised at the offer. "I was going to catch one with Artie and his dad, but you're closer to my house. Just give me a second."

He watched as she did what could only be described as bounce over to Artie and rubbed his hand uneasily over his mohawk as when the guy shot him a suspicious look. God this was a weird day, almost too weird. But he didn't have any more time to think about it as Rachel was bouncing back towards him. "You convince him I'm not going to leave you bleeding in a ditch somewhere?"

"I'm sure he didn't think that," she answered with a frown.

"Just bleeding then, no ditch."

She sighed. "Noah, give yourself a little more credit. Now let's go."

They made their way to the car silently, neither of them quite sure what they wanted to say. They were buckled in and more than halfway to her house when Rachel finally spoke up. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm sure you gathered that I spoke to Mercedes. She said she would leave it alone."

Puck wasn't really sure if he minded, but he didn't take his eyes off the road as he answered her. "Why do I think there's a but coming?"

She nodded. "She said to tell you to either man up or walk away. Noah, have you considered telling Finn?"

"Every damn day," he told her. "But how do you find the time and place to drop that bombshell?" They reached her place and he shoved the car into park and killed the engine. "Hey dude, here's a beer and some dip, oh and by the way, the kid's not yours."

Rachel watched sadly as he dropped his head into his hands. "Okay, so that's not an option right now, but it'll have to be done eventually. You could talk to Quinn again."

"I've tried!" he shouted. "I try all the damn time and she either shoots me down or I fuck it up right when she's ready to let me into the baby's life!"

His voice echoed around them and she waited for it to die down before she spoke. "Noah, I appreciate that you're upset about this, but yelling at me certainly isn't going to helped.

"I know," he growled. "I'm just so pissed off. I'm actually sorry for yelling at you, but I don't know what to do."

That much was certainly clear, and she decided that the safest option at that moment would be to steer the conversation away from the baby drama. "Our generation has it hard," she said quietly. "More single parent families like yours, more unconventional families like mine. We're put under all this pressure to grow up so fast, to figure out what we want to do and who we want to be when we should just be allowed to get drunk and go to dances and sing at the top of our lungs just because we want to. Though some of us are already doing that last one."

Puck's eyes widened as he turned to look at her. "Seriously?"

It took her a moment to realize that he was staring at her like she'd grown an extra head. "What?"

"First you tell the whole of the celibacy club that girls want sex just as much as guys, and now you're telling me you want to get drunk?"

She blushed scarlet and turned to look out the window. "Maybe, I don't know. I guess I just hear people talking about it so much that I wonder what's so awesome about it. But if it makes me feel all manic and crazy like those pills Mrs. Schuester gave us I'm never going there."

"First, you're always crazy," he told her, though they were both surprised to hear a measure of fondness in his voice when he said it, and she turned back to see him regarding her with that patented Puckerman smirk on his face. "Second, those were uppers, and not a whole hell of a lot like alcohol. You realize that now I'll have to make it my personal mission to see to it that you get drunk."

"That'll be the day," she muttered. "Look, Noah. What I'm trying to say is that we're kind of the generation of the young and the hopeless. I want you to know you're not alone, feeling the way you do. Not all of us are dealing with something as hard as you are, but there's always something."

It was all getting a bit too much for him, and what Rachel was saying was hitting too close to home and sending him dangerously close to the edge. So rather than deal with it, he went for the joke. "Okay that was a Good Charlotte reference, the young and the hopeless." He pressed a hand to his heart in mock shock. "Rachel Berry just made a reference to music that wasn't a show tune. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll, this is huge."

Rachel resisted the childish urge to stick her tongue out at him, if just barely. Still, she couldn't help but smile. "All of you new Glee members are expanding my horizons, but Noah, I really mean what I said. We've all got something to freak out about on a daily basis." That dainty hand of hers reached out to cover his for the second time that day, warming his skin. "I'm here if you need a friend."

For the second time that day he was speechless, and as Rachel leaned over to kiss his cheek and climbed out of the car, it occurred to him that if they kept hanging out he may spend a great deal of his time without the powers of speech.


	3. Chapter 3

Note From The Author—Okay, so the fall finale has created an interesting situation for me. I was hoping to stay true to cannon up to the episode Sectionals, but obviously since Rachel knew about baby Puckerman in this story and didn't in the show that isn't going to happen. So what I'm going to do is sort of create an amalgam of that world and this and then move forward. In this story, everything is the same, but Finn found out when he heard Mercedes talking to the others. Everything other than that detail should be pretty much the same, but this is essentially AU going forward since we won't actually know what's going to happen until April thanks to bloody American Idol. Hopefully this all works but let me know either way.

Life had gotten wild just before Sectionals. As if losing Mr. Schue after he found out his wife was a lying crazy person hadn't been enough, Mercedes' party line call had clued Finn into the fact that Quinn's baby wasn't his, and Puck was lucky that he had come out of the confrontation in one piece. Finn may have come back to Glee at sectionals, but he was still royally pissed after everything that had gone down. Not even the camaraderie that had come with winning the title together had patched things up between him and Quinn and Puck.

Soon after the competition it had been time for winter break, and though he really didn't want to, Puck left things alone with Finn for the time being. It was Rachel's suggestion that had convinced him, particularly since it had come during a conversation that constituted the first Glee clubber other than Quinn speaking to him since the baby drama went down. He cooled his heels through Hanukkah, saw Rachel once or twice when he needed to talk about the baby, and waited until the day before they were supposed to go back to school to try and talk to Finn.

All that conversation got him was a black eye, a split lip, and what felt like three or four bruised ribs. It also landed him on a chair in Rachel Berry's kitchen with a bag of peas pressed to his eye like he was living in an episode of I Love Freaking Lucy.

"Noah I thought you were going to wait to talk to him."

"It's been like a month, Berry! How long am I supposed to wait?"

She gave him that withering look that only ex-girlfriends and his mother seemed to be able to pull off. "Considering that you and the girl he's in love with got drunk and slept with each other, resulting in a baby that said girlfriend has been trying to pass off as his, I'd say it's going to take a while."

Puck frowned. "Why can't you just say a while and leave it at that?" He winced as she applied something that stung like a bitch to his lip. "And why are you on my side in this anyway?"

Rachel shook her head. "I'm not on anyone's side Noah, not really," she told him quietly, dabbing at his lip. "I feel for all of you. I understand that Quinn is terrified and only wanted to keep Finn, and I get that you want to be involved in your daughter's life. But I also understand that Finn feels hurt and betrayed right now. There's no right or wrong in this situation."

"So it was right for Finn to beat the crap out of me for a second time?" he cried, waving his bag of peas in the air.

She only sighed, taking his hand in hers to guide the frozen vegetables back to his swollen eye. "Violence is never the answer, but put yourself in his position, Noah."

He thought about it for a second, imagined finding out the girl he loved had slept with someone else and gotten pregnant and nodded grudgingly. "Okay, so maybe I get it."

For a moment they were both silent, but finally Rachel worked up the courage to ask the question that had been rolling around in her head since he had turned up on her doorstep. "Why did you come here today?"

Puck had been asking himself the same question, and he knew he had the option of bull shitting her or just laying it out for her. Considering that she was currently tending to his wounds and making them hot chocolate he chose the latter. With a sigh, he set the peas aside and looked up at her, catching her eyes so she could see that he was being straight with her. "You're pretty much my only friend, Berry. Everyone's pretty pissed over this thing with me and Quinn because they all love Finn so much, and they don't know what to do with me I guess. You were here before Babygate broke and you've cared about me ever since we went out; even though I was a complete ass when you broke it off. Where else would I go?"

"I can respect that." She turned towards the stove for the dual purposes of removing the hot milk and wiping away the tears he had brought to her eyes. All her crying would do was make him uncomfortable and more likely to bolt. After pouring the milk into the chocolate she set his mug in front of him and bent to kiss his forehead. "You're not a bad guy, Noah, even if you want people to think you are."

"Why do you do that?" he asked suddenly. "The forehead thing?"

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know. I guess because my daddy always did it when I was little to make me feel better." She smiled at him just a bit sadly. "I always figured it would make everyone else feel better too, but I can stop if you want."

Later it would occur to him that his gut twisted a bit at the thought, and that he was awfully quick to answer her. "No..! I mean, you don't have to," he told her, trying to play it off.

The grin she shot him made it perfectly clear that she didn't believe for a second that he felt as casually as he was trying to play it, but she was decent enough not to mention it and deal a deeper blow to his aching pride. So with chocolate in hand she launched into a discussion of songs for Regionals that he was sure would leave his ears bleeding.

* * *

The next morning school went about like it always did for a Glee kid on the lower end of the chain. There were the usual insults tossed out here and there but this time there were some congratulations too from those who had just heard about their win at Sectionals who actually gave a crap. Rachel interacted with the rest of the Glee club as normal, though she noticed that Noah was entirely right about the way the others were treating him. Some seemed a bit pissed, but for the most part things were just awkward. Nobody knew what to do with the badass who'd been revealed as the baby daddy.

Their first Glee practice back from the break went as well as could be expected when Finn still wouldn't go anywhere near Puck and Quinn. Mr. Schue could sense the back to school blahs and cut the session relatively short, letting them out after only forty five minutes. Finn bolted for the door the moment their advisor closed his mouth and Rachel wasn't surprised to hear a soft sob from Quinn.

She knew that she was risking bodily harm, but she decided it was probably worth the risk and moved quietly out of her chair to the one next to Quinn. Santana and Brit had vacated the premises, not sure how to deal with pregnancy hormones on a teenager, so she was sitting alone with a hand protectively on her burgeoning belly and tears in her eyes.

"Hey Quinn," she said softly.

The blonde looked over at her former rival. "What exactly do you want, Berry?"

Rachel shrugged. "You looked sad, and I wanted to see if there's anything I could do."

"What could you possibly do to make this better?" she spat out.

"Well, you haven't called me Man Hands in a while; that always seems to make you feel better."

Quinn let out a surprised laugh despite herself. "I don't think so, but thanks for offering." She shook her head. "I really don't get it. You've always been into Finn. Why are you being so nice to me and Puck instead of going after him?"

She took a moment to smooth her skirt out and gather her thoughts. "Don't think it didn't occur to me to run to him the second all of this happened and try to be a shoulder to cry on." As the girls' eyes met she could see the surprise in the former Cheerio's at the admission. "But the bottom line is that Finn doesn't need me throwing myself at him. He's got enough on his plate right now, enough to think about. If he and I are meant to get together we will, but I'm not going to push it. It wouldn't be right."

Now Quinn just looked positively bowled over. "You're a better person than me, then. I'd be all over it the second he was free." Her voice caught a little bit at the last word, but she pushed forward. "But you kind of ignored part of my question. I've never been anything but a complete beast to you, so why do you care?"

"Because Noah cares," Rachel answered without hesitation. "It's taking me a lot, but I'm finally convincing him that I really do care about him. I see him as a friend and that's his baby in there. Plus, I don't hate you, Quinn. Not anymore."

She nodded. "Well I'm not saying we're best buddies or anything, Man Hands." She tempered the insult with a joking tone that actually made them both smile. "But it's nice to have someone I know is really on my side."

Rachel picked up her bag and stood with a kind smile. "Anytime."

She was headed out of the room when Puck grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off her feet. "Noah, what on earth…?" It took her a moment to realize that he was actually hugging her. Even during their brief relationship he had never held her like this, so it was a change. Hesitantly, she wrapped her own arms around him to return the embrace. "Noah, as nice as this is I'd really like my feet on the ground."

He seemed to come back to himself at his words and he dropped her to her feet almost jarringly. "Sorry," he said, trying to hide the fact that he was actually blushing over having literally swept her off her feet, and in public no less.

Flustered hands brushed over her mussed hair to smooth it back into place and she sighed. "Not exactly what I had in mind but it works I suppose. What exactly was that about?" she questioned.

Those probing brown eyes of hers were staring right into his and he knew there was no way he was going to be able to play this one off. "Just…" He trailed off, rubbing a hand over his half shaved head. "Thanks, for being so nice to Quinn."

"No problem," she said with a note of wonder still audible in her voice. "I've got a voice lesson so I've got to go," she told him, pointing down the hall.

"Oh yeah, go ahead. I'll, uh, see you tomorrow."

With a nod she made her way down the hall, and when she was well out of his sight he let his head fall with a dull thud into the nearest locker. What the hell had he gotten himself into with this girl?


	4. Chapter 4

Weeks passed, Quinn started to get huge, and Finn kept ignoring his ex and his former best friend. He occasionally spoke to Rachel and the other Glee kids, but any suggestion they made about reconciliation appeared to fall on deaf ears. Left virtually friendless save Matt and Mike, who were too wrapped up in Brittany and Santana to care too much, Puck found himself spending more and more time with Rachel Berry. He didn't know when it happened, but before long she had become his best friend, and they were suddenly hanging out after school and she was helping him with his vocals while he helped her improve on the guitar. When they weren't working on music she spent her time pestering him to try and talk to Quinn about what would happen with the baby and he steadfastly ignored her.

It was just past a month from Rachel's conversation with Quinn when she realized that she hadn't been slushied in quite some time. Though she definitely didn't miss the icy hazing she found herself wondering exactly what had happened. Curious, she thought back to the last time she had found herself dripping with cherry flavored slush and realized that it was just before they had left for winter break, right after Sectionals. She was sure the timing wasn't a coincidence, so she decided to go to the school's main source of gossip.

Rachel hadn't looked at Jacob's blog in a while, mostly because it was aggravating to discover some sort of picture of her backside or a creepy ode to her beauty every time she opened it. But now she flipped open her star spangled laptop and went directly there, skipping back to the beginning of the mysterious slushie drought. Sure enough, there was a brief post about Puck, Mike, Matt and a couple other guys on the football team 'laying the smack down on' (Please, Jacob's words, not the impeccably well spoken Miss Berry's) some guys from the other sports teams out on the field one day. Evidently they had made it perfectly clear to all of the jocks that the Glee Club was off limits, and that they should pass said information on to everyone else if they valued their lives. Snapping her computer shut in a huff, she crossed her arms.

That was how Puck found her ten minutes later. After knocking and receiving no answer he had ventured into the house. "Rachel, I called guy's prerogative and got a decent movie for you to watch where no one bursts into song. I got your stupid caramel popcorn too. I don't get why you can't just eat regular…" He came to a screeching halt when he saw the look on her face. "Oh shit, what did I do?"

The look on his face would have been quite comical had she not been upset, and even so it was making the corners of her mouth tug upward. "Noah, you beat a bunch of kids up to stop the slushies?"

"Oh that," he practically sighed in relief, setting down the bag from the video store. "Yeah, I thought you knew about that."

"You honestly thought I wouldn't have said anything if I knew? You beat up half the athletes in the school!"

Noah's eyes widened. "You're telling me that you're actually mad? Why the hell are you all butt hurt over the fact that none of the Glee kids, you included, are getting slushie facials?"

She reached out and smacked his arm. "Don't use that offensive term and you know I believe that violence doesn't solve anything!"

"You just smacked me," he deadpanned.

Now Rachel was positively blustering. "Noah you know it's not the same thing!"

With a somewhat frustrated sigh he reached down and grabbed her shoulders firmly, looking her straight in the eye. "Look, sometimes the best way for me to solve something is to use the guns. I'm not good at fixing problems with words and shit, so I do it my way. Anyway nobody's getting attacked in the halls anymore, so isn't that all that matters?"

It hurt just a bit to admit that he was probably right, but she knew he was. Plus, it wasn't all that often that he opened up and said something straight forwardly so it was best to just not argue. "Fine, you're right; but could you please at least try to stop beating people up?" she pled.

"Fine, Berry, but I'm not going to quit cursing. Or saying butt hurt," he muttered.

He didn't even have time to react before she hauled off and smacked him again.

* * *

Rachel had just closed the door after Noah when she heard her cell phone trilling from the living room. Running back into the room, she frowned at the name on the caller id before she picked it up.

"Quinn? What…?" She trailed off when she heard the determination in the other girl's voice. Then she asked about Noah. "Quinn is everything okay with the baby?"

When the answer was yes she breathed a sigh of relief, and then felt her mouth curving into a smile as the former Cheerio laid out her plan.

* * *

Crashing was the only thing on Puck's mind when he made it home from Rachel's. He may have been willing to admit that she was officially his best friend, but damn the girl could be exhausting. She had questioned the validity of every step of the action movie's plot until he had to resist the urge to pull his hear out and put in a musical just to get her to shut up. Of course she had sung along with every word, but it was better than the nonstop questions.

At home, he dragged himself up the stairs, slammed his door and fell face down on his bed only to be out like a rock in seconds. It was over an hour later when the strains of Defying Gravity filtered into his head, and for a moment he was completely confused. Then he growled as he realized Rachel had changed his ringtone again. Groping for the phone, he fumbled it to his ear and managed to croak out a mangled 'what?' with his face still pressed into the pillow and his eyes closed.

"Noah?"

There were tears in Rachel's voice and suddenly he was wide awake and bolt upright. "What's wrong?"

"There were these guys, and they came over the back fence and were throwing stuff at the windows trying to scare me and there's paintball stuff all over everything and my dads aren't home and I don't know what to do!"

She was rapidly edging towards hysterical, and he didn't even pause to think before he spoke again. "I'll be right there."

* * *

Breaking the speed limit was not something that was new to Noah Puckerman, but he was pretty sure he actually broke the land speed record on the way to Berry's that night. She had sounded absolutely terrified when she called him, and he wasn't about to leave her alone. The fact that the old Puck wouldn't have even gotten a call about the incident had occurred to him, but he didn't like to think about the fact that he seemed to feel something deeper than psychotic fascination for Rachel Berry.

He pushed everything else from the back of his mind as he parked his truck at the curb and practically sprinted to the front door. Rachel threw it open before he could knock, tears streaming down her face. The moment he was within reach she launched herself at him, and he half carried her into the house, kicking the door shut behind him.

"It's okay, just show me what happened."

He walked into the living room only to find absolutely no sign of paint on the windows, and a very determined looking Quinn sitting on the couch. With a growl he grabbed Rachel by the shoulders and pulled her away from him only to find the tears already drying on her somewhat apologetic looking face. "You underhanded, devious little diva," he snarled without any real malice. In fact he sounded almost impressed under the annoyance and fear.

"It was my idea, Puck," Quinn piped up from the couch. "I just needed Rachel's help to get you to talk."

Rachel only had eyes for him and she looked up into them with a sad smile. "Just talk it over, Noah. That baby will be here before long and you can't pretend that the two of you don't need to make a decision. Listen to what she has to say."

For a moment they both seemed to forget there was anyone else in the room, and seeing the plea in Rachel's eyes Puck knew she was right. If he didn't deal with this he would likely never even get to see his little girl. So he nodded. "Okay."

"Good." She stood up on tip toe to kiss his cheek. "I'll be in the kitchen if you two need anything."

Quinn watched the exchange with something akin to amazement, but her attention completely refocused on Puck when he sat in the chair across from her. "I won't apologize for bringing Rachel into this."

"You don't have to," he said gruffly. "Berry doesn't do anything she doesn't want to, and she's wanted me to talk to you for a while. What I don't get is why you're even here." His eyes met hers and she wasn't surprised to see disdain in them. "I thought you wanted to do this all on your own."

"I did," she told him quietly. "But seeing you with Rachel the past couple of months has made me realize some things; like the fact that I don't have the right to decide by myself what happens with this baby. But either way a decision has to be made and Mr. Schuester's probably soon to be ex-wife isn't an option."

"Yeah, that much I caught on to."

She nodded. "It seems pretty clear… Puck, I can't keep her."

"You mean you don't want to," he spat out.

"No," she said with a wavering voice as her hands drifted protectively to her belly. "I can't. I can't bring this little person into the world knowing that I might not be able to take care of her. Who's going to help us if we keep her? Your mom? A single parent with two kids of her own? Rachel's family, the Glee kids? My parents? In case you haven't noticed I'm living with Santana because they kicked me out and still won't speak to me and because Finn can't stand to look at me."

Shit, he hated tears. "Screw Finn."

She was on her feet as fast as she could be, closing in on him as her voice began to rise. "No, screw you Puck! Because that's what happened! We screwed the hell up!"

Crap, she was swearing, this was bad. He stood up and reached for her, but she pulled away. "Quinn…"

"No! You're going to listen to me," she cried. "We made the biggest mistake of our lives, and I can't fix it. I lost one of the only people who has ever really loved me because I was feeling lonely and angry and had a few too many wine coolers! And we didn't just screw up our own lives; we brought another one into the mess!"

"You think I don't get that?! Trust me; I fucking comprehend that one, Quinn. Finn won't talk to me, and you want to take my daughter away from me without even giving me a chance to really be her father! I want to do right by that baby."

They were both breathless and silent in the aftermath of their screaming match. Her breath hitching in her chest and the tears slowing, she dropped gingerly back onto the chair. "I think the best way we to do right by her is to give her up, Puck."

"Why?" he asked, an edge of desperation in his voice.

She heard it clear as day, and it wasn't until then that she fully comprehended just how much he wanted to be involved in the baby's life. "We could keep her, and we could give her the best life that we could manage, but let's face it; how much of a life could that be? She'd have two parents, sure, but one or both of us would probably have to drop out to work to pay for food and diapers and clothes. It's hard enough to get a job right now without the added problem of not having a high school diploma. We don't love each other, Puck. We don't even like each other most of the time. What kind of message would that send to our daughter?"

He didn't want to hear it; he hadn't wanted to hear it since the very beginning, because they were the same questions and insecurities and worries that had been coursing through him from the start. "I don't know what you want me to say."

Quinn shook her head. "Just keep listening for a minute. I've been looking into adoption." She saw the anger in his eyes and shook her head. "Please just listen? I've been looking into an open adoption. We pick the family, we get to meet them and know everything we want about them; and since it's an open adoption we would get to be involved in her life to a certain degree. They'll send us pictures and letters, maybe even let us see her, I don't quite understand all of it."

"I didn't think you would want to see her," he mumbled.

"I didn't either, but carrying a little person around for all this time will do interesting things to your heart." There were tears coursing down her cheeks again. "I love her, I really do, just as much as you do; but I don't think I can give her everything she needs. I don't think we can."

Noah knew she was right, and that was what hurt the most. He was a teenage football player who baked pot into cupcakes and actually contemplated stealing money from a friend in a wheelchair for his own purposes. He liked dip and beer and women and if someone like him ever came near his daughter he would have chased them off in a heartbeat. As much as he hated to admit it, the whole open adoption thing actually sounded like a good idea. He would get to see his little girl as she grew up and know what she was doing with his life, but she'd have responsible, established parents with real jobs and a 401K and shit. He knew he was never going to talk Quinn into keeping their daughter, but this seemed like the next best option. "I'm not saying that I'm completely down with this," he said quietly. "But if you want to bring over the crap so we can look at parents and stuff that would be okay."

A smile lit up her face as she rose, wanting to get the heck out of dodge before he changed his mind. "Thank you, Puck. I really mean that." She gave him a hesitant hug before making her way to the kitchen to tell Rachel she was heading home.

* * *

Rachel had heard every word of the conversation, mostly due to the sheer volume of the majority of it and the fact that she couldn't escape the kitchen without walking right through the middle of it. She couldn't even imagine what the two of them were feeling right at that moment, but somehow she wasn't surprised to find Noah sitting on the couch in her living room, staring into space and looking just a bit lost.

Quietly, she made her way across the room to stand next to him, brushing a hand over his shoulder. "Noah?"

He barely registered the touch. "We're going…" His voice was shaky when he said it.

Rachel had learned to read him like a book, so she cut him off. "I heard all of it, and I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

Puck nodded. "Yeah." Her hand brushed against his shoulder again and he caught it, drawing her down into his lap to wrap his arms around her. "I think I just made the biggest decision of my life and I just…. I need something to hold onto right now."

She didn't say a word, just kissed his forehead like she had so many other times, and settled into his arms with her nestled into the crook of his neck and let him anchor himself. She didn't know how long they stayed that way in silence, but she knew that it took her a while to work up to saying what she wanted to, and when she did it was whispered against his skin. "I think this is the bravest thing you've ever done, Noah Puckerman."

He didn't answer; found he couldn't, actually. Because he didn't feel brave, he just felt shattered. So he kept his mouth shut and held onto Rachel like a lifeline. And when she started singing a soft lullaby he silently willed away the tears.

* * *

Note From The Author—Okay, so because adoption can be a sensitive subject, I decided to put a little note here. This chapter is not meant to be any kind of a statement as to my opinions or beliefs about adoption or about teenage pregnancy. Mostly it is simply the best situation I could come up for to suit this story and Puck and Quinn's personalities and relationship. If it offends anyone I sincerely apologize, but also urge you to remember that this is only fiction.


	5. Chapter 5

Rachel knew Noah well enough to know that talking about what had happened that night with Quinn would only embarrass him; so she simply let him hold on to her as long as he needed and then never brought it up again. Life went on, Puck and Quinn looked into adoptive parents and fought over what kind of people they wanted their little girl to go to. Quinn insisted on a family with a belief in God and good fashion sense and Puck wanted to make sure that his little girl was taken care of but that there was some measure of badassness in there somewhere. Rachel heard about it all and tried to keep her amused giggle to herself.

Of course, given the differences between Noah and her, Rachel was aware of the fact that most people wouldn't believe they were just friends. They regularly endured the crude suggestions of people's perception of their 'true' relationship, and she and the rest of their friends regularly had to restrain Puck from beating the crap out of people. Jacob saw the entire thing as blog fodder and regularly mused on what he called the "Puckleberry Situation". Not that it did anything to dissuade his perverted fascination with Rachel. As long as Noah wasn't in ear shot or sight he was still more than willing to come on to her.

If anything Jacob's advances seemed to be getting bolder, which meant that if he really did believe that Rachel and Puck were together he just had a death wish. Either way he kept it up, as evidenced by his actions in the hall one day.

Rachel felt the smack on her butt and whirled around to face Jacob with indignation written on her face. "Do…not….touch me!"

He put his hands up in mock fear. "Oh I'm scared. Come on Rachel, when are you going to dump Puckerman for me?"

She folded her arms across her chest and stared him down. "When they give Limp Biskit a Tony Award."

"Huh?"

There wasn't any time to explain as Kurt chose that moment to sidle up next to her. "Problem oh starlet of mine?"

"Not a one," Jacob answered with a lecherous grin in Rachel's direction.

The two singers' eyes met and a silent meeting of the minds clearly occurred. With his lip curled into a devious smile Kurt turned to face the perv. "So you mean I didn't see you smack Miss. Berry's rear end just then?" He ploughed on before the other boy could say anything else. "Do yourself a favor and back off, unless you want to deal with me."

"What are you going to do, beat me up?" he scoffed.

Kurt looked briefly down at his perfect outfit with a laugh. "Please, like I would actually risk destroying this amazingness on you." He stepped a bit closer. "No, what I will do is bring down the entire football team on you."

"Oh please."

"But wait, it gets better." Kurt's entire face lit up with his next words. "You have enough trouble with the girls in this school as it is, and the few who could stand you would never even entertain dating you if they found out about the tryst you had with my friend Jason at summer camp in the eighth grade."

Jacob's mouth fell open. "That never happened! And everyone knows I'm not gay."

He studied his nails briefly before looking up with an entirely disconcerting smirk on his face. "Oh but Jason is, and I can guarantee you that I can have several witnesses planted who will swear up and down that they found you making out one balmy summer night; and then you'll spend the rest of your high school career stuck at first base, my friend. Remember that I'm very charming, and a very good actor."

"You wouldn't!" he squeaked.

"He would," Rachel told him with a pleased grin. "And I'll back him up on."

"Or you can leave Rachel alone, not have to deal with Puck, and actually have the chance to discover if there really is a girl somewhere out there who'll put up with your creeper act. Your choice."

Standing there in the hall, Jacob found himself faced with a surprisingly formidable team, and he had no doubt that they would do exactly what they said, and he wouldn't near a girl until after he graduated, and maybe even longer. He surveyed the two of them, standing there united with arms crossed and hips throw out and decided that he was going to have to walk away. "Fine!" Unable to find any other words, he stalked away.

Rachel watched him go with hands over her mouth to stifle the full blown laugh that was dying to escape. Dropping her hands she turned to Kurt with a huge smile on her face. "Kurt, I think I love you."

He grinned. "You're not my type, but you're not so bad yourself."

"Really though, thank you for helping," she told him sincerely, looping her arm through his as they began to walk together. "I owe you."

"Well one day I'll probably find a way to cash in on this, but you're welcome."

She smiled over at him. "Well Noah will be happy to have him out of his hair as well, what little of it there is."

Kurt watched her as she spoke, noting the sparkle in her eye when she mentioned their surly fellow club member. "Why Rachel Berry do I detect a bit of attraction for tall dark and mohawked?"

It was work for her not to trip over her feet when he said it and they had to jerk to a halt as it was. "No! We're just friends, and I wouldn't want to jeopardize…" She looked over again to see him staring at her with one perfect eyebrow raised in doubt and crumbled. "Okay, okay, maybe I feel something other than friendship. Maybe."

"So we've established that you may like him. Is there any chance that he MAY like you?"

"I honestly don't know. It's all so complicated. I don't think about Finn as much anymore but I don't know if those feelings are gone, and Puck says he doesn't want Quinn but I don't know if he likes me either and…"

She was abruptly cut off when Kurt covered her mouth with his hand. "Rachel, you're babbling."

When his hand left her mouth she found herself nodding like a bobble head. "Yes I am, I just don't know what…" She caught herself with a sigh. "Look until that baby is born it's really a moot point. I won't add anything to Noah's already full plate, and I would really appreciate if you wouldn't say or do anything."

Normally he would meddle, but something about the pleading look in Rachel's eyes made him check the urge. So with a long suffering sigh he nodded. "Fine, I won't say anything for now, but if you don't do anything after the little gleek is born I cannot promise you anything."

"Thank you, Kurt!" she cried as they started back down the hall. "Now about the costumes for Regionals."

"Don't push it Berry."

* * *

When Puck shut his locker that afternoon before Glee he turned just in time to see Jacob fleeing from a very smug looking Kurt and letting out an undignified squeak when he saw Puck. The behavior was squirrelly even for the little weirdo and he watched him with growing curiosity until he fell into step with Kurt outside the choir room door. "What was that about Hummel?"

Kurt smiled. "Let's just say that Rachel won't have any more problems with the trashy come-ons moving forward."

Before Noah could ask how the hell he had managed that they were in the room and Kurt was off across the room to gossip with Mercedes. With a bemused look on his face he took his seat next to Mike. Rachel came in with a bounce in her step and took her now customary spot between Puck and Matt. The grin on her face was brighter than usual and Puck looked over at her questioningly.

"What exactly happened with Hummel and Jacob?" he asked

Rachel turned the full force of a sparkling grin on him and it struck him just how beautiful she was when she smiled like that. He was so caught up in that surprising thought that he tuned in halfway through her answer. "…..how persuasive Kurt can be when he wants to." No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Me. Shue had called her and Brittany up to the front to ask a question about potential choreography.

Noah watched her go and was kind of amazed to find his gaze lingering on the length of her legs and the movement of her skirt for the first time since they had struck up this absurdly weird friendship of theirs. When he finally regained his focus he turned to find Matt and Mike staring at him with twin grins of amusement on their faces. "What the hell are you two smiling at?" he questioned defensively.

"Oh nothing," Mike answered. "Just wondering when you started looking at Berry like a five year old looks at a lollipop."

"Seriously," Matt added. "Epic want much, dude?"

Puck managed to resist the urge to punch them, if only barely. "I don't have a clue what you idiots are talking about."

"Come on, man. You're honestly going to tell us that with all the time you two have been spending with each other you haven't thought about getting back with her?"

"I…" He looked up to the front of the room where Rachel and Brittany looked to be in serious conversation, watching as she tucked her hair behind her ears and briefly caught his eyes. She smiled that same radiant smile and his stomach did a little flip that made him feel like a pre-pubescent girl crushing on a Jonas. Half lost in thought; he started talking without really registering what he was saying. "Look it hasn't been like that with me and Rachel. Ever since everything went down with the baby she's been the only one to really stand by me. So now mater how banging that body of hers is or how much I want my hands on it I'm not going to ruin the first new friendship I've had since the first grade."

"Wow."

Mike's surprised comment got Puck to tune back in real quick, and he turned to find them staring at him again. "Look, just forget it."

Matt shook his head. "Dude, we didn't realize that you felt that way; if we had known you felt like Berry was the only one who cared we wouldn't have acted different when everything went down with Finn and Quinn."

Feeling embarrassed and completely out of his element, he shrugged. "It's cool. I mean it's not like I acted like a real stand up guy, and I got Rachel out of it so…"

"Okay that's it, who are you and what have you done with the real Puckerman?" Mike asked eyes wide.

"What, I can't change? I can be deep!" Puck protested.

Mike snorted. "Yeah, about as deep as a kiddy pool."

The guy camaraderie seemed to be back, and all of them paused for a moment when they realized it. Noah found he couldn't stand the potential for a man bonding moment and decided to speak up again. "Listen just lay off the whole Rachel thing okay?"

"Whatever you want bro," Matt told him, though it was pretty clear it wasn't likely to happen in the long run.

"Guys," Mike said, affecting a tone of faux terror. "Does this mean we have to like hug now?"

This time Puck couldn't fight off the urge, and the rest of the Glee club looked up at Mike's indignant cry as he got popped in the shoulder.

Note From The Author—Okay, so I couldn't resist the usage of Puckleberry : ) Also, I apologize if this chapter is a bit short. I'm not really happy with it and I couldn't seem to find any other logical place to cut it off


	6. Chapter 6

Note From The Author—I apologize profusely for the lack of review replies these last two chapters. Turns out that going back to school for a second Bachelor's degree totally ate my life this week : ) All I can say is thank you so much for the incredible feedback you've been giving me and I will try my absolute hardest to reply to any future review. Thanks so much; now upward and onward! PS I have no idea when regionals would be, so we're just going to pretend that I'm right, right? : )

With regionals rapidly approaching McKinley High's New Directions were living in a state of barely controlled chaos. It was a constant battle to try and finalize the set list, work out all of the costuming, and balance the work of perfecting things with the fact that Finn still refused to speak to Quinn and Puck and was hardly talking to the rest of them simply because he had become so introverted since everything had gone down.

The week of regionals found them all in a fervor trying to fix their costumes and choreography. Quinn had gotten bigger than any of them had expected her to; give how tiny she was, and last second alterations had to be made to make sure that some kind of flow was maintained in the look. Quinn insisted that there was nothing in the world that could possibly make her look right at eight months pregnant but it was decided that they had to try.

So two days before the competition the entire club was in the choir room, waiting around to re-work some of the choreography around Quinn's understandable lack of mobility in her current state as Rachel, Kurt and Mercedes gathered around the former Cheerio to decide how best to alter her costumes. As Puck watched good natured squabbling between them with a grin, Rachel knelt down to pick something up and he heard a low whistle from behind him.

"Damn, Puck if you're not going there do you mind if I do?" Matt asked. "Because that body of Berry's really is impressive."

Noah turned to his friend with his eyes narrowed. "Dude, I don't want to, but I will beat the shit out of you."

Shooting a quick 'I told you so' look at Mike, Matt turned his attention back to Puck. "What? You said you weren't going to go there with her, so why can't I?"

"Because, if you try I'll rip off both of your arms and beat you with them."

Unbeknownst to them, Finn was watching the entire exchange with a great deal of interest. It had been clear to him for a while that Puck didn't want to be with Quinn, and he had long since realized that what he wanted from Rachel was nothing more than pure and simple friendship. With all of that in mind, what his former best friend was feeling for the girl he also considered a friend worried him a little bit. Anyone could see that the pair of them had become inseparable, and Puck treated her like gold; it wasn't any of that that worried him. What had him on edge was the fact that both parties in that friendship were very clearly beginning to feel much more than just friendly things for each other, and Puck's history with women wasn't exactly encouraging. He didn't really think about what he did next, he just went for it.

"I hope you think long and hard before you end up going for a relationship with her."

It had been so long since he'd heard that voice directed at him that Puck found himself momentarily stunned when he turned to find Finn standing there with a surprisingly stern look on his face. "The first words you say to me in months, and you're worried about how I feel about Rachel?"

Finn sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I know things have been crappy between us lately, and I haven't forgiven you, but I think of Rachel as a really good friend, and I can tell that the two of you like each other. The way you are with girls? She doesn't deserve that."

The comment struck home and stung like a bitch, probably because he knew just how right it was. He didn't want to have this conversation in the middle of the choir room, but given the circumstances he figured he'd better take any opportunity Finn would give him to talk. "Look Hudson, Rachel's pretty much my best friend. I'm not so sure I want to jeopardize that."

The smile that Finn shot him then was a surprise. "Dude, did you just use a three syllable word? Rachel must be rubbing off on you."

"Yeah, well," he said with no small measure of embarrassment. He looked up at the kid who had been his best friend since grade school and shook his head. "I can't tell you enough how sorry I am for what Quinn and I did, man; but the bottom line is that Rachel has rubbed off on me, and I won't lie to you again and tell you that I don't want her. But what I will tell you is that I'm not gonna make a move unless I know I'm not going to wreck things between me and her."

"I can respect that." Then Finn did the one thing that Puck had been waiting for him to do for months, he held out his hand.

Feeling like an absolute pansy because he actually wanted to cry, Puck took that hand to shake it. In typical boy fashion they ended in one of those man hugs that resulted in the pair of them slapping each others' backs. Before they pulled apart, he took the opportunity to put in his two cents. "She misses you, you know."

He knew that they weren't talking about Rachel anymore, but he just wasn't ready to go there with Quinn yet. "I'm not there yet, man," he told his newly reconciled friend.

Puck wanted to push, he really did, but considering that Finn was barely on speaking terms with him he didn't think it would be such a great idea. Instead he just nodded and turned back to the action in the room, only to discover that it had completely stopped. Everyone was simply staring at them in amazement. Rachel had tears and a huge smile on her face, and Quinn was looking heartbroken by the fact that Finn had spoken to Puck and not her. As Finn turned away silent tears began to fall from Quinn's eyes, and Puck watched helplessly as Santana led her out into the hall.

Rachel could see the worry and loss in his eyes, and she met him halfway across the classroom. "She'll be okay, and Finn will get there eventually," she whispered as she leaned in for a hug. Giving him a quick squeeze she pulled back to smile up at him. "I'm glad the two of you took that first step though."

As usual her enthusiasm was hard to ignore, and he smiled right back. "Yeah, me too." Offering his hand, he let out a huge sigh. "Come on; let's go help Santana with Quinn so we can get out of here sometime before my hawk grows out."

* * *

They did get through before Puck's hawk grew out, though he grumbled that it was just barely the case. Rachel left to catch a ride home with Kurt and Mercedes, and Puck stuck around to help Artie pack up his guitar and the rest of his gear. They had finally gotten it all into his dad's car and Puck was headed back to his truck when the far more suitable than Wicked 'I Wanna Sex You Up' started blaring from his phone.

"Yeah?" he asked impatiently.

"Do you have to answer the phone like that?" Quinn questioned exasperatedly.

Puck rolled his eyes into the back of his head as he climbed into the truck. "I don't know, do you have to be so judgey about it?"

"Judgey isn't a word Puck."

"Yeah, yeah, what do you want Fabray?" There was a long pause, and fear rose up white hot in his chest. "Quinn, is something wrong with the baby?"

She expelled a hard breath. "No, no, sorry. The baby's fine, great actually. I just got a call from the adoption agency. They want to know if we're free tonight to do all of the final paperwork and have the final meeting with Jared and Emily."

As it had been since they had picked the couple, the names sent twin sensations of joy and pain through his body. They had found an awesome couple that he was totally cool with. She worked for a local magazine and he was a stock broker who was saved from a job Puck thought was totally lame by the fact that he had like every ninja movie ever made and played jazz piano. No matter how awesome they were he was still handing his daughter over to them to raise and it worried the shit out of him every time he wondered if they had made the right choice. For all he knew the people had bodies stashed in their attic.

Having been privy to Puck's strange thought processes during the selection process, Quinn knew exactly what his long silence meant. "Puck, they don't have any bodies hidden in their crawl spaces, secret occult meetings in their basement or evil plans to take over the world," she said gently. "We both agreed they're the best choice, and you know we'll get to see her grow up."

Noah dropped his head to the steering wheel, taking a deep breath. "I know. I know. Look I have to run home and let my mom know what's going on; she wants to come and meet them before everything happens, but we'll be there."

His hands were shaking when he hung up the phone, and he had to put it down just to keep himself from dropping it. It was a while before he was steady enough to drive home.

* * *

Rachel had been fast asleep for hours when there was a knock on her bedroom door. Fumbling for the switch on the lamp, she turned the light on and stumbled her way out of bed to open the door.

"Daddy?" she asked groggily.

"Sweetheart I'm sorry to wake you up, but Noah's here. He was just sitting out front in the truck when Dad saw him and we brought him into the house. He seems pretty torn up."

That woke her up as quickly as an electric shock, and she pushed past her father to make her way to the stairs. The hour suddenly hit her and she turned back to him. "Daddy I'm really sorry about how late it is but I'm guessing this is about Quinn and the baby and I swear we'll just stay downstairs and talk or sleep or whatever if you'll just let him stay…"

"Rachel, breathe." Her father waited for her to pause and do as he asked with a smile. "We trust you, and Noah seems too sad and worried to try and pull anything anyway. Just take care of him."

"Thank you Daddy." She hugged him briefly then went sprinting down the stairs to find Noah sitting on the couch looking for all the world like his entire existence had come crashing down on him.

He looked up and saw her, and she was surprised to find tears in his eyes. "I shouldn't even be feeling like this," he said quietly. "I knew the way things were going to go when Quinn and I picked Jared and Emily, but we had our last meeting with them tonight and now it's all legal and I feel like I took a line drive to the heart."

"Noah…" she whispered.

Puck shook his head. "I just… I don't know how to feel. I know we're doing the right thing for her but now that it's official I feel like someone's trying to rip my heart out. I helped make this little person and I'm signing her away; as soon as she's not with Quinn anymore and she's ready to leave the hospital she won't be mine anymore."

Tears were falling by the time he fell silent and Rachel rushed over to sit next to him, taking his hand. "Oh Noah, she'll always be yours and Quinn's; no matter what happens the two of you will always be the ones who brought her into this world and were brave enough to let her go so she could have the best life possible." He just shook his head but she wasn't going to back off now. Refusing to let him ignore what she had to say, she reached out to cradle his face gently in her hands. "Listen to me, Noah. You and Quinn, you're the bravest people on the planet, and I'm so proud of you for making this choice despite the fact that it's the hardest thing you'll ever do."

"I don't feel proud Rachel, I just feel… Shit I don't even know."

"You don't have to. You don't have to know how to feel or know what to do. Tonight you don't have to do anything but sleep."

He took a shaky breath. "I don't want to go home, and I know I sound like a complete wuss but I don't know what else to do."

That little bit of the usual Puck showing through made her smile and she leaned forward to kiss his forehead like the always did. "My dads are fine with you staying, Noah."

He breathed a sigh of relief, and neither of them said another word as they lay down together on her sofa. It wasn't until he was settled with Rachel's small body tucked carefully against his own and her arms wrapped around him that he finally let the tears fall.


	7. Chapter 7

Note From The Author—If it seems like I'm being intentionally vague albout the location of Regionals, it's because I am : ) Never having been a part of a Glee club from Ohio I don't have a clue where Regionals would be held, nor do I know what the format is, so I'll be taking some literary license there. Either way I hope you enjoy.

The dream that Puck was steeped in when he woke was the type that would have made his mother smack him upside the head had she known his mind was going in that direction while Rachel was in his arms, or had she known it was going there at all. As he came awake he looked around confusedly, taking a moment to realize where he was. It all came back to him quickly and another little pang ran through his heart at the thought of what he and Quinn had done the night before, despite the fact that he knew it was the right decision. Then Rachel nuzzled closer to his chest and his mind did a 180 in the opposite direction.

No surprise, the dream had been about her; after all he was a teenage boy. But if she kept pressing up against him like that he was going to have a serious teenage boy problem that wouldn't be any fun to explain. Gritting his teeth, he shifted her only to have her snuggle closer. He was on the verge of screaming when his cell phone rang. Fumbling to find it, he had to twist Rachel onto his lap, muttering under his breath. "What did I do to deserve this?" When he got the phone open he barked into it. "What?!"

"Where the hell are you, Puck?!" Mike yelled on the other end of the line.

He shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"It's freaking noon! Final rehearsal, culminating in us getting on a bus to go to Regionals? Ring a bell, Puckerman? Mr. Schue is freaking out because not only have you gone awol, we can't find Rachel!"

Puck sighed as his friend kept rambling, nudging Berry until those huge brown eyes of hers opened blurrily. "Mike…Mike…MIKE!" There was finally silence on the other end and he breathed another sigh. "Quit freaking out, Rachel's with me; we slept in. We'll get ready, get our shit together and be there in an hour and it'll be fine. We've rehearsed this into the ground, just go over the choreography until I can get Rachel there."

"Wait, you mean you've been with Rachel all night? Man Puck…"

"It's not like that Mike, and if you so much as suggest it is to anyone else I'll sic Berry on you. Oww!" He frowned as Rachel smacked him in the chest. "Nothing, just tell Mr. Schue we'll be there as soon as we can."

Rachel watched as he snapped his phone closed. "I take it they're panicking."

He nodded. "Yeah, and I'm surprised you're not."

"It's still early, just wait." Leaning forward she kissed his cheek. "Everything will be okay Noah."

It was abundantly clear that she was talking about much more than just that day, and hearing her say it was a balm for his aching heart. "I know, but if we don't get ready and get going they're going to send out search and rescue."

She smiled. "I know. I can't imagine why my dads didn't wake us up, but they must have known we needed it." Stepping off of the couch, she stepped in to full on micromanaging Berry mode. "Call your mom and tell her what's going on, I'll send my Daddy over to get your suitcase while we shower and get ready. With any luck we can be there in the hour you promised." When he only stood there with a goofy smile on his face she put her hands on her hips. "What?"

"You're kind of hilarious when you turn into Colonel Berry."

"Go!" she cried exasperatedly, pointing up the stairs.

"Yes Colonel Berry, Ma'am," he said with a sarcastic salute.

He was lucky that her aggravation threw off her aim and the pillow she launched only clipped his ear.

* * *

True to her word, by the time they were ready and stepping into the car Rachel was freaking out. They made it to the school just shy of their hour goal, and they were only saved from her task-master tendencies by Mr. Schue's tutelage and Puck's not so subtle reminders that she was going to drive everyone nuts. Everyone was on edge, and it seemed like a miracle that they made it through they're final rehearsal without killing each other.

They could have easily run long, but Mr. Schue was on top of things, and they were on the bus for the drive to the hotel right on time. It was only a three hour drive, but they were all exhausted, and pretty much everyone was asleep by the time they hit the freeway. It was a blissfully smooth and quick ride, and they arrived right in time for dinner, which Rachel spent nervously pushing around her food and eyeing the other Glee club that was currently eating in the hotel restaurant. When they were finished she stopped them all in the lobby.

"Where are you all going?" she questioned.

"To bed, Berry," Quinn answered. "We have to be up early for our rehearsal slot and we're all tired."

Her hands went to her hips and they all froze. She meant business. "We have to rehearse one more time!"

"Rachel, we rehearsed before we left, we've been rehearsing since Sectionals! We'll be fine!" Merceded cried.

She shook her head. "I only think that we'll regret it in the morning if we don't."

It was Brittany who spoke up, and they all could have killed her for reinforcing the neurosis. "Maybe Rachel's right."

Santana sighed, knowing there was no way they were getting out of this. "Fine, we do one run through." Rachel opened her mouth and she raised a hand imperiously. "Listen Berry. We run through each song once, without coreography, in someone's hotel room."

Nobody argued and the Cheerio wasn't budging, so Rachel gave in; she knew when she was beaten. "That seems like a legitimate compromise."

"Good then," Mr. Schue said gratefully. "Up to my room."

* * *

It was still relatively early when they finished their run through, but everyone was too exhausted to give a damn. Rachel had gone to the front desk to make sure that they understood that under no circumstances would she be sleeping on the substandard pillow they have provided and to get a replacement. When she returned she found that the only one of the girls sharing her two room suite was visible.

"Quinn, where is everyone?"

The amused girl only rubbed her belly and pointed out the window. It wasn't until Rachel got closer that she heard the intense whispers.

"I can't see, we've got to get closer."

"If we get any closer we're going to drop you!"

"Well do you want to know or not?"

Rachel walked out onto the balcony only to find Tina stretched across the railing with her hands braced on the next balcony over with Mercedes holding her ankles where they would have been hanging halfway across the gap and Brittany and Santana anchoring the pair of them on the main balcony.

"What in the world are you doing?" she cried.

The sudden cry startled Santana and she and Brit momentarily lost their grip, causing Mercedes and Tina to go sliding forward and Tina to let out a blood curdling scream. The entire purpose of their acrobatics became very clear when the scream brought Mr. Schuester and Emma Pillsbury racing to see what had happened.

"Tina what on earth were you thinking?!" Mr. Schue yelled.

"Well we…. Ummm." She looked back at the others but found no help.

With a little smile Ms. Pillsbury laid a hand on Will's shoulder. "I'm guessing that the ladies saw me going in to your room and wanted to know exactly what was going on. Now girls, if you'll pull Tina back so she's safely on the ground I'll tell you why I'm here." It took a minute to maneuver, but when Tina was back on her feet and Quinn had joined the rest of them on the balcony she spoke again. "I came to see New Directions perform tomorrow, and I wanted to talk to Will before I spoke to all of you to say break a leg and return to my OWN hotel room."

The four co-conspirators blushed a bit as Quinn took the lead with a grin. "Thank you Ms. Pillsbury. We'll meet you at the door."

* * *

The next morning after a slightly awkward talk with their teacher and former Guidance councilor and a relatively good night's sleep Rachel was not shockingly the first up. She had been down to breakfast and back before Tina and Santana were even up, and Quinn told her several times to quit freaking bouncing around if she didn't want to get smacked.

When the whole of the club made it downstairs they all nervously looked around at the other clubs milling around waiting for their rehearsal times. As they settled their costumes in to the changing rooms they saw plenty of flash and every time they heard someone running through a vocal exercise they about jumped out of their skin.

Still, after their rehearsal time they were feeling relatively confident. Their numbers were top notch, and their coreography was fabulous. All they could do now was watch the other clubs until their slot halfway through and do their very best.

"Okay, so nobody forget, we've got Mercedes on "I'm Telling You I'm Not Going to start, then Don't Stop Believing, then…." Rachel babbled as they made their way to their seats.

Kurt clapped his hand on her mouth firmly. "Darling Diva Berry, we've only just cultivated a friendship, please don't make me kill you now."

"Rachel, we're fine. You've rehearsed and gone over this a million times; you're going to be fine," Mr. Schue reassured her.

"I just…" Kurt's temporarily removed hand clamped back down.

It was Puck who finally got her to back down. "Rachel, calm down. All we can do is watch the other clubs go and sing. Calm…down…"

There was a pause, but she eventually nodded, though not before she licked Kurt's hand. He squealed and wiped the offended appendage on his pants. "You have been spending way too much time with Puck!"

* * *

Their competitors were on the top of their game as well, though at least this time nobody was singing the same songs as them. When it was their time to go and change into costumes they were feeling a bit nervous, but not overly worried. The stage was set, they were ready, and Mercedes stepped onto the stage.

She absolutely killed it. When the others joined her on stage they were grinning from ear to ear, as were Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury in the audience. Rachel and Finn led them through an explosive rendition of Don't Stop Believing, and the crowd erupted into applause. After a quick change they burst back on stage for the majority of the club to back up Rachel and Kurt on Defying Gravity.

It was during the final chorus when Kurt was belting out his part that Rachel noticed the pained look flit across Quinn's face. Worry raced through her, and a glance at Puck told her that he was just as concerned, but there was no stopping then. Their final song was Jump, and with breath heaving and hearts soaring, they brought their set to a close. They took a bow, took another, and walked off stage to thunderous applause and cheers.

The moment they were offstage everyone surrounded Quinn; Rachel and Puck clearly hadn't been the only ones to notice her distress.

"Is it the baby, is something wrong?" Puck questioned, fear clear in his voice. Rachel reached for his hand and he took it willingly.

Quinn shook her head. "No, there's nothing wrong per se." She looked up into Noah's eyes. "I'm just in labor."

Note From The Author—Who's ready to meet baby Fabray/Puckerman?!


	8. Chapter 8

It certainly wasn't every day that a teenager went into labor in the middle of a number at a Glee competition. After Quinn's announcement and a retrieval of their chaperones a sense of general chaos seemed to descend upon the group. There was a lot of yelling and freaking out layered with confusion from the other groups backstage. Finn looked like he might throw up, Puck was pretty sure he was going to pass out, and Rachel and Santana were rubbing Quinn's back soothingly.

The noise and commotion continued until Mr. Schue finally cried out over all of them. "Everyone quiet!"

There was a sudden stillness and an almost eerie silence broken only by Quinn's labored breathing. "I really think a hospital would be a good idea, Mr. Schuester," she said, looking pale and frightened.

"She's right on the money there," Ms. Pillsbury said calmly, though the way her hands were twisting contradicted her composed demeanor. "I'll stay here with the kids; Will, you get a taxi and take Noah and Quinn to the hospital."

There was no dissent from any member of the group, but as Mr. Schue gathered up what they needed Rachel met Noah's' eyes. Seeing the panic and worry there, she hurriedly made her way to him, leaving Quinn to Brittany and Santana. Puck looked down at her when she got there and it struck her that in that moment he looked as young as she'd ever seen him. "Noah, it's going to be alright," she said quietly. "There's a hospital nearby and they're going to take good care of them."

"Yeah," he said weakly. "I know."

Rachel decided she didn't care that they were being watched by what seemed like half of Ohio and she cradled his face in her hands and stood on her tip toes to press a kiss to his bent head. "It'll be fine, and you'll get to meet your daughter soon. Now go."

Mr. Schue ushered the two teens out, and nobody missed the desperate look that Quinn shot Finn, who turned away looking sad. The monumental nature of what was occurring hit Rachel as they all watched them go; it must have shown on her face because she suddenly felt her hands grasped tight and looked over to see Kurt and Mercedes on either side of her.

"It's nice to know even the biggest badass in Lima gets scared too," Mercedes said with a note of surprise in her voice.

She nodded. "Any of us would be."

There was a heavy silence until Kurt spoke up in his usual chipper voice in an effort to break everyone out of their reverie. "Come on ladies and gentlemen, let's get ourselves cleaned up and get ready for the big moment!"

Everyone began to move again, but Rachel couldn't help but look towards the door that had just stopped swinging.

* * *

In the taxi Mr. Schue was doing his best to keep his two teenage charges calm while simultaneously doing the same for himself. "Quinn, would you like me to call your parents?"

She shook her head as another contraction coursed through her and a tear trailed down her cheek. "They abandoned me Mr. Schuester. They don't want anything to do with me or this baby so they'll just have to deal with that." She squeezed her eyes shut. "God I want Finn."

Will expected Puck to be at least somewhat upset by the statement, but the boy just nodded. "I wouldn't mind having my best friend either, but it's just us." He met Quinn's eyes and for the first time in months he reached out to lay his hand over hers where it rested on the huge mound of her belly. "And we're going to do this."

She nodded, and for the first time since she'd gotten pregnant she took what Puck offered and turned her hand so that she could lace their fingers together. Squeezing at his hand with another contraction, she took a deep breath. "We're going to do this."

* * *

The almost tender interaction between Puck and Quinn in the cab had admittedly thrown Mr. Schue. Usually the pair of them barely spoke to each other without making some sort of smart ass comment or slinging insults, so the serious moment between them had been surprising.

But it soon became abundantly clear that their pleasant rapport was not to last. Before they even reached the hospital Quinn's contractions were raging out of control and rather than weeping she had evidently decided to channel every last bit of her pain into screaming at Puck. By the time they got her to a room she was vehemently cursing the day she'd ever let him laid hands on her, and Mr. Schuester willingly took refuge in the waiting room as things moved forward.

When the doctor came in she was threatening to remove any appendage she could think of. "I swear to God Puckerman, if you and Rachel ever get your crap together I'm going to make sure that she never lets you touch her. Ever!"

He didn't miss the confused look that passed between the nurse and the doctor examining Quinn, but he just shook his head. "You want to talk about Rachel right now? Seriously?"

She almost growled. "It's either that or I rip off something valuable to you and shove it down your throat," she forced out between gritted teeth.

"Shit," he sighed, running his hand over his mohawk as he turned to the doctor. "Can you give her something for the pain? Maybe something that'll strike her speechless?"

Fabray popped him in the shoulder before the nurse could get out the disapproving words that were clearly on her lips. "I swear Puck I will kill you if you don't shut up."

The doctor looked up at the pair with a bemused smile. "Claws away kids; don't want your daughter to hear mom and dad shouting and keep that as her first experience on this planet." As she expected it promptly shut both of them up. "Now, as to you oddly worded request, Mr. Puckerman, I'm afraid it's too late for an epidural. This labor has progressed faster than I've seen in a long time, and as quick as a wink there'll be a baby in the room."

"Holy shit."

"Language," the nurse chided as she and the doctor pulled on new gloves.

Noah sat down hard on the chair next to the bed. "Sorry, it's just…. Holy shit."

Quinn seemed to agree, though her form of expression appeared to be running more towards a murmured prayer. Looking over at him she admitted the one thing that she always hated to with a whisper. "'I'm scared."

"I'd be more worried if you weren't I think. But hell, you had the balls to face down Sue Sylvester; a baby'll be a breeze."

She actually cracked a smile. "You are such a boy."

"Guilty," he said with that trademark smirk firmly in place. "But then you already know that."

Quinn's eyes rolled back in her head. "Way to ruin the moment Puck."

There was no time to respond as the doctor looked up at them. "You two ready to have a baby?"

Their eyes met briefly before she grabbed ahold of his hand with a fierce glint in her eyes. "I'm ready."

* * *

Back at the hotel, Rachel and the others were waiting anxiously for any news about Quinn and Puck. Their first place trophy and effective invitation to state was sitting on the desk in the guys' hotel room, where they had all taken up residence. They were thrilled by the win, but the arrival of the baby was effectively eclipsing pretty much everything else. They had tried to have a celebratory lunch but had just ended up taking their food to go and going back to gather together to talk and worry as a unit.

Rachel knew that Noah would call her as soon as he could, but it didn't stop her from glancing down at her cell every five seconds. It had been three and a half hours when she finally got up and put the thing across the room so she could just stare at it. She had barely made it back to the bed she had been sitting on with Brittany and Mike when Sweet Caroline blasted through the room.

With a rather undignified squeak she scrambled to her feet and bolted across the room, tripping over Santana's feet and being righted by Matt as she snatched the phone from the desk. "Noah?" she questioned breathlessly.

"She's here Berry," he said on the other line, sounding a bit shaky. "She's here and Jesus she's beautiful."

Her eyes closed contentedly as she heard the joy in his voice. "Congratulations, Noah. How's Quinn?"

He snorted. "Tired and sore and fawning all over her. She wants to get as much time with her as she can before…"

And there it was. The elephant in the room that they had all been trying to ignore; the fact that as soon as mom and baby were ready to leave the hospital the baby wouldn't be going with Quinn and Puck. Feeling her heart ache for him she tried her best to make him forget, if only for a second. "Well there's more good news," she told him. "We won. We're going to state."

There was a whoop on the other line, followed by a surprised squeal from Quinn in the background. "Epic! We totally deserved it. I hope you're celebrating."

Rachel shook her head. "We tried, but everyone just wanted to know what was going on with you guys, and now I'm being bombarded with random sign language asking when we can see the baby," she said with a laugh as Mike mimed rocking a child in his arms.

Another voice, presumably the doctor, chimed in and Noah came back to her. "You guys can stop by on your way back to Lima. I'm going to stay here with Quinn until she can come home; my mom and sister are driving over and getting a hotel room."

"I'll let everybody know," she said with a smile. "Congratulations, Noah."

"Thanks," he said quietly.

* * *

The message was certainly passed on, and everyone had their bags packed almost quicker than Emma could get a hold of the bus driver to let him know they were ready to leave. Luggage was loaded on as quickly as they possibly could, and they made it to the hospital only hours after the baby was born, and only an hour before the end of visiting hours.

Finn insisted on staying on the bus with the driver, but the rest of them piled out and into the waiting room. Mr. Schue tried to keep them as quiet as he could, but when Puck came out a cheer they couldn't contain rose up.

Rachel was the first to him, and after a bone crushing hug he brought her back to Quinn's room. The former Cheerio was looking tired and worn, but at the same time she seemed the happiest she had been in months. The tiny pink bundle in her arms completely held her attention until Rachel said hello.

"Hey Berry," she said with a tired smile. "I heard we won."

She nodded. "Yes, and it was a runaway win too. Can I see her?" she questioned hesitantly.

Quinn looked as if she was hesitating, but one look at Rachel told her she was ridiculous to worry; it must have been something about the mom instincts surging through her. "Of course."

She and Puck moved across the room and he bent to take the baby as Rachel took a seat next to the bed. "Hey there, gorgeous," he said quietly, beaming down at her. "This is Rachel, she's crazy but we like her anyway."

"Hey," she said, her eyes suddenly filling as he laid his daughter gently in her arms. "Hey, you really are gorgeous aren't you?" she asked, taking in her shock of dark hair and sleepy eyes. "Don't listen to your dad; I'm not crazy, just driven. You have no idea how much these two love you, little one."

Rachel knew that it wouldn't be fair to keep holding her for too long; not with her adoptive parents coming to get her in a matter of days. So she passed the baby back to Puck and stood up. Noah held the baby for a moment longer, and then leaned down to hand her back to Quinn. Rachel couldn't help but watch the interaction between the two of them, and a moment after he brushed a finger over his daughter's cheek his eyes caught Quinn's and held, and the look that passed between them made Rachel's heart clench. She knew that look, knew what was passing between them.

He still loved her.

* * *

Her revelation hurt more than anything ever had, but Rachel knew that there was nothing to be done now; not as the two of them introduced their daughter to the world and got to be with her for only days before they gave her up. So she put on a smiled and walked back out to the waiting room to send the next visitors in.

She didn't know how she did it, but she kept a smile on her face, managed to chat and coo over the baby, and actually made it to the bus without anyone noticing that anything was wrong. It was only after they started home and everyone else fell into an exhausted sleep that she leaned her head against the window and let herself cry.

Note From The Author—Okay, okay I suck, and I know it. But if you've ever read anything else I've written you know that I don't do the whole sad ending thing, so this is not the end for Rachel and Puck; in a lot of ways it's only the beginning. Hopefully I can get the new chapter up relatively soon, and there will be some resolution to the angst Rachel is feeling.


	9. Chapter 9

Miserable was a gross understatement of how Rachel was feeling when she woke the next morning. Her Puck revelation had led her to tumble into bed without making her way through her usual routine, and though she knew she was going to regret it she really couldn't seem to find the energy to care. All she wanted to do was wallow in the misery she was feeling; but her dads were both at work and the doorbell was ringing incessantly. When she finally made it down the stairs to answer the door she found Kurt on her porch.

His eyes widened, his jaw dropped, and he said the very first thing that came to his mind. "What in the name of Madonna have you been doing?"

She frowned at him. "It's Sunday morning, I've been sleeping."

Kurt pressed a hand to his heart. "Rachel Berry slept in past…" He looked at his watch with a gasp. "Noon?!" Pushing forward, he pressed a hand to her forehead. "Are you sick? How's your voice?"

"Kurt!" Rachel pushed him off before running her fingers through her hair, sighing when they caught on tangles. "Yesterday was incredibly long and trying, Kurt."

Before he could speak again they heard the faint strains of Sweet Caroline floating through the house and this time Rachel sigh was huge. "Just come in."

He closed the door behind them as he followed her into the kitchen where her phone appeared to be buried in a bowl of Hershey's Kisses. The chocolate treats were scattered across the counter, making it look suspiciously like Rachel has chucked the phone in there. With one eyebrow raised he settled back against the counter to listen to the conversation on the diva's side of the line.

"Hello Noah," she said quietly. "Wow, that's great."

Was it just Kurt, or did he really hear a crack in her voice?

"And there coming when? I'm sorry, Noah. I know how hard that's going to be."

Yup, the crack was a definite, and this time it was accompanied by a look sadly close to anguish on her pretty face.

"I'm sure Quinn's fabulous with her."

There was the crack again. My wasn't this just a font of information.

"Okay. Well I'll talk to you later. Bye." When Rachel turned she saw Kurt watching her with interest shining in his eyes. "What?"

He shook his head. "Rachel, are you feeling a bit usurped by the baby?"

"Are you crazy?!" she cried. "No, I am not jealous of an infant!"

Okay, so he had known that wasn't the case; but the look on her face had been just too fabulous to pass up. Either way something was off, but what? Quinn just wanted to be with Finn, but Rachel was over the adorably goofy boy. Everyone could tell that Puck just wanted to be with Rachel, and he didn't think that she was crazy enough to think otherwise. So what on earth was it? Stress maybe, in which case she really needed to wind down…. And then he remembered why he had come in the first place.

"Oh, I forgot!" he exclaimed with a clap of his hands. "Party at Tina's tonight to celebrate the win. We've talked to Quinn and Puck and they don't mind us going on without them, and Tina's parents are out of town."

"Kurt, it's a school night."

He sighed. "Au contraire my dear; tomorrow is a teacher prep day before finals, as is Tuesday. We're in the clear."

"Okay," Rachel conceded. "I'm sure my dads will be fine with it."

Kurt nodded, and then looked her up and down. "What are we going to do with you? You must look completely fabulous. Okay, let's see the closet."

She was on the verge of saying no, but when faced with a toe tapping Kurt with his hands on his hips and a glint in his eye she just didn't have the energy. "Okay."

* * *

Hours later Rachel was really beginning to regret saying yes. Their small victory party had turned into the McKinley equivalent of a kegger after Jacob had somehow gotten ahold of the information and posted it on his blog. The party had only been going for an hour and the house was already filled with kids and booze, and every time anyone saw Tina she had taken another drink claiming it was the only thing keeping her from rocking back and forth in the corner.

Calling the police was out of the question; then they'd all be busted and completely dead meat. The only other option was to call Mr. Schue, and as much as she hated to bring him into it, she really couldn't see any other choice. She was on her way to figure out where in heaven's name she had left her phone when she came across Finn spilled across the couch looking completely wasted.

"Finn! Are you okay?"she questioned.

Those puppy dog eyes that she had once been so in love with raised to hers and he shrugged. "The girl I'm in love with just had a baby with my best friend and I'm too big of a coward to call her so I've been bothering Puck and taking time away from his daughter like a douche."

She plopped down next to him, a frown crossing her features. "Finn," she started tentatively, hoping he would forget this conversation by morning. "Do you think they're going to get together, I mean really this time."

He nodded somberly. "I'm afraid they will. Having a kid together is kind of a huge bondy thing and if they do I'll never be able to tell her how sorry I am for how I've treated her. Wouldn't be any point."

The slightly slurred speech had left her with tears in her eyes. "Yeah, that's what I was afraid of." God, knowing she wasn't the only one thinking it just made her heart ache. She needed something to make her forget, or at least to numb the pain. Then someone went by with a tray of shots of lord only knew what, and she took one. Maybe it could take away some of the hurt.

* * *

As he left the hospital that night Puck felt a wealth of mixed emotions. He knew his daughter's adoptive parents would do an amazing job, but he was sure that giving her up the next day would be the hardest thing he would ever do.

He was emotionally spent and very much looking forward to some quality time with his hotel bed. Then his phone rang.

"Finn, I swear to God, just quit being a pussy and call Quinn!" There was a huffy 'excuse me' on the other line and Puck sighed. "Shit. Sorry Hummel, long day."

"Well I should think so," Kurt replied. "But we've got other things to worry about big man. We've got a Berry code red."

Puck shot straight up in the cab of his idling truck. "What happened, is she okay?"

He chuckled. "Down Kujo, she's not bleeding. She's blitzed."

It took a moment for that statement to sink in, but as it did he flopped back against the seat. "Rachel is drunk?" he asked slowly.

"As a skunk." He confirmed. "Look, we've all tried to get her to stop and she won't. She practically tried to rip Santana's eyes out when she tried to take her drink. Not to mention this party has gotten completely out of hand and Finn already threw up on me. It's a good thing he and I are friends, honestly."

"Thank you God, I owe you; okay, I need you to get in that truck your mother drove down to you and drive back here and get these heathens to leave; then get Rachel to put the booze down."

Puck nodded. "Let me call my mom then I'll leave. I can make it in just under an hour. Keep trying to get Berry to quit."

"Bless you Puckerman."

* * *

When Puck made it to Tina's the party was definitely going full swing. The good news was that he recognized a lot of the cars, and with any luck he'd be able to clear them out relatively easy. Sure enough, when he made his way inside he knew what looked like more than half of the people who were there, including most of the football and hockey teams and the Cheerios.

He didn't even have time to get in a word before Tina was launching herself at him. "Puck! Thank you baby Jesus. We can't get them to leave!"

He patted her somewhat awkwardly on the back and handed her over to Mercedes who had miraculously appeared from the crowd. Stepping up on Tina's coffee table, he let out a sharp whistle. "Okay, everyone out now!" There was a stunned silence as everyone seemed to consider his command; but the stony look on his face seemed to rather effectively convince them. "NOW!" Pretty soon there was nobody left but the Glee kids, and they were all staring at Puck like he had saved the world. "Okay, where are the drunks?"

"I resent that," Tina muttered.

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Finn's asleep upstairs and Rachel…"

Puck turned to find Rachel draped over Artie's lap in his wheelchair. "It was the only way she'd move," he said, looking somewhat sheepish. "She stopped drinking a while ago, and she stopped singing It Sucks To Be Me from Avenue Q at least ten minutes ago."

Noah filed the dirty puppet song reference away for a later date with a smirk as he crouched down to Rachel's level. "Hey," he said quietly.

She beamed up at him. "Oh hello Noah."

He just couldn't seem to stop the smile. "I thought I was going to get you drunk."

Rachel giggled. "Well I never did agree to that, and tonight seemed like a good time to take the initiative."

"I can see that." He turned to the others. "Look, there's not enough room for everyone to sleep here. I'll take Rachel and whoever else wants to go to my place for the night but I have to be up early to get back to the hospital."

Santana and Brittany both had an early Cheerio practice despite the free day so they opted to go with Puck, as did Matt. While they gathered everything they had brought with them he bent to pluck Rachel from Artie's lap. "Come on lightweight, let's get you home."

"Noah, you're so strong," she told him with another giggle. "You're right about your guns."

With a laugh he couldn't hold in and a word of thanks to whoever who had talked her into wearing jeans instead of one of her customary skirts he swung her fully into his arms and headed for the car.

* * *

They made it almost all the way to the Puckerman house before he had to pull over to let Rachel puke. Thankfully Santana had wisely put her nearest the door, and Puck made it out in time to hold her hair, since the other three in the car adamantly refused to be in charge of that task. After they got her back into the car she managed to make it the rest of the way before feeling the nausea rise again. The second time she heaved into the bushes.

Noah convinced Santana and Brittany to help Rachel change into a pair of his sweats, and when his other three friends were settled and he had changed into his own sweats, he joined Rachel in the bathroom nearest his bedroom.

"Still nauseous?" he questioned.

She managed for a moment to raise her head from where it was resting against the side of the sink with a slight shake of her head. "It's a bit better," she told him, sounding much more lucid, and a whole hell of a lot more miserable. "Santana and Brittany had me drink a bottle of water and had me take some aspirin. They said it would help."

Puck nodded. "It will. Think you can make it to the bed?"

"Yeah." Despite her affirmation, she was still shaky, and it irked her to have to lean on Noah all the way to the bed. But when they lay down she couldn't help but curl in against his chest. It still hurt so badly, but she felt like she may never get to be with him like this again, so she took it. But still…"I'm so sorry, Noah," she whispered.

"What the hell for?" he asked her, sounding incredulous both at the apology and the tears he had just realized were falling from her eyes.

"For taking you away from the baby and from Quinn," Rachel told him brokenly. "All because I was an idiot."

He shook his head even as he rubbed his hand up and down her back. "I hate to break it to you, but you're pretty much the only teenager who hadn't done this before tonight. It happens."Rachel shook her head against his chest, but she didn't say anything else. Puck had spent enough time around her in the past months that he could tell that something deeper was wrong with her; but now didn't seem like the time to say anything. So with a tired sigh he just pressed a kiss to her forehead like she had done so many times. "Just sleep babe."

Note From The Author—Do other states have teacher prep days, or is mine just weird?


	10. Chapter 10

Puck was confused as hell when he woke up to Barbara Streisand blaring out of Rachel's phone at six in the morning. Said Berry groped across his body for his phone and managed to get it to her ear with no small struggle. By the time she was able to hear she was propped up on Puck's chest with a look of fear in her eyes.

"Hello, Daddy."

The look on her face had him chuckling in an instant, but she pressed a finger to her lips with pleading eyes, and he suddenly realized that her fathers might kill them both if they knew where Rachel had spent the night. Spending the night at home on the Berry's couch with parental supervision was one thing; sharing Puck's bed with his mother an hour away, however innocent the night had been, would get them both in hot water. Nodding at her, he clamped his mouth shut.

"I'm so sorry I didn't call you Daddy. We were up all night doing karaoke and eating pizza and junk food and we all just crashed on Tina's floor," she lied, praying he'd believe her. "I didn't want to call you when it was so late and by the time we went to bed I had just completely forgotten." Some of the tension drained from her face and she nodded. "I'll be much more cognizant of the worry I could be putting you through next time. What was I planning on doing today?"

Her eyes met Noah's and this time it was his that pled with her. She knew he needed the support when he gave his little girl to her new parents today, and despite the ache in her heart she absolutely wouldn't abandon him now. Especially not after a very rare word fell from his lips. "Please," he whispered.

Rachel nodded. "Quinn is leaving the hospital today which means that she and Noah will be officially transferring guardianship of the baby to her new parents. If it's alright with you I'd like to be there with him." There was an affirmative noise on the other line and she let out a happy sigh. "Thank you, Daddy. I'll let you know when I'm on the way home."

She disconnected the call, and Noah pulled her down into his arms, squeezing her tightly. "Thank you."

"Of course," she told him. She couldn't seem to help but nuzzle her face against the soft fabric of his shirt. "You two need the support."

Puck nodded. "We do; I just wish Quinn's parents had pulled their heads out of their asses and come to meet their granddaughter." With one last hug he released her and slid from the bed. "Speaking of which, we've got to go. How're you feeling?"

Still in the bed, she stretched gingerly and took a survey of her body. Her head was hurting, but it was much better than it could have been if the Cheerio Gleeks hadn't forced aspirin and water on her. She was a bit sore from cramping into a twin bed with Noah, but all in all she felt relatively decent. "I'm okay," she told him with a soft smile. "Thank you for taking care of me."

The smirk he shot her was pure Puck. "Pleasure was mine. But rest assured I will get you at least tipsy again; I can't wait to hear your version of You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want," he told her as he went over to pull a pair of jeans from his dresser.

"Oh God, I sang Avenue Q?" She sounded completely embarrassed. Burying her head in her hands, she shook her head. "Nobody was ever even supposed to know that I know the songs!"

Puck laughed out loud at her. "Why not? It's one of the few kickass musicals on the planet, and it's totally unberryish, which is kind of hot. Anyway," he snapped his sweatshirt at her playfully. "We've got to get Matt and the Cheerios out of here so we can leave."

She pouted a bit, but she finally rolled out of the bed. Her head twinged a bit more as she transitioned to upright and she let out a little groan that sounded mysteriously like 'pain killer.' Before she could dig some out of her bag a bottle came flying at her followed closely by a well worn t-shirt. A girly shriek she couldn't suppress escaped as she hit the bed again. "Noah!"

"Up and at em, lightweight."

* * *

As the morning progressed it became painfully clear to Rachel that Noah's bravado was all for sure. When he thought nobody was looking the smile fell away, and at one part his hands even started to shake. The others seemed to sense it too and Matt offered a man hug, Brittany threw her arms around him, and even Santana managed a somewhat awkward pat on her ex's shoulder before the three of them headed out.

Rachel and Puck followed them out the door, but they were both silent as they got on the road. This was the biggest, scariest day of his life thus far, and actually maybe his entire life; and neither of them quite knew what to say. It didn't take either of them long to realize that maybe nothing could be said, and they spent the ride in comfortable if sad silence with their fingers laced together on the seat.

When they finally pulled up to the hospital Noah took a huge breath and steeled himself for what was to come. Rachel was out of the car and next to him again almost before he could blink, and with her hand twined in his he felt worlds better. They met his mom and sister at the door, and together as a unit they made their way up to Quinn's room.

The blonde was very quietly and efficiently packing her bag up, though the busy work couldn't disguise the shaking of her hands. They all swapped their hellos, but when the nurse brought the baby into the room it was like the world slipped away. Puck held her first, cooing over her in a very un-Puck way and trying to hold back the tears in his eyes. After a while he made his way over to Quinn, passing their daughter to her with a look of anguish that made Rachel feel like a vice had tightened over her heart. Quinn took the baby with tears already falling, and she had just cuddled her up against her chest when Jared and Emily came in the room.

Noah felt like the world was crashing down on him, and even though he knew he would get to see his little girl grow up and most likely spend time with her down the line, he felt like his heart was breaking; and for once in his life he was completely unashamed to cry. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to the baby's head before Quinn laid her in Emily's arms.

Suddenly, everyone in the room was crying. He could hear Quinn talking to Jared and Emily and his mother having a conversation, but it was all forced to the back of his mind like some sort of sadistic white noise. Turning around, his eyes searched blindly for Rachel, finding her right where he had left her by the hospital room door. There was nowhere else he wanted to be.

When Noah strode over to her to pull her into his arms Rachel felt all of the emotions she'd been trying to tamp down for the past two days come flooding out. In what seemed like a split second the pair of them were holding onto each other like the only port in the storm, and Rachel's mind began to reel. Noah had come to her. When his heart had broken he hadn't gone to Quinn, but to her. Could she have been wrong?

She didn't have time to think about it. Emily and Jared were laying the baby in her car seat, and as they headed for the door with promises of a status report in the next few days, Puck called out to them hoarsely. "I forgot to ask, what are you going to name her?"

Emily smiled. "Annabelle," she told him. "Annabelle Penelope Faith."

Quinn smiled despite the pain she was feeling. "You're giving her our initials?" she questioned somewhat incredulously.

Jared nodded. "She'll probably go by something a little less verbose when she gets older, but we wanted her to have something of you two to always keep."

Then with a smile and a wave they were gone, and the bare threads that had been holding Quinn together seemed to snap the minute that they were out of sight. "Can we go, please?" she questioned desperately. "I can't…?"

The devastation in her eyes had Rachel on the move, and she had stopped her tears in the time it took to make it across the room. It was something she never thought she'd ever do, but she gathered Quinn in her arms and guided them both to sit on the bed. Once the comfort was offered she couldn't seem to hold anything in anymore, and Rachel just let her cry as she stroked a comforting hand over her hair. "Mrs. Puckerman is going to go take care of your paperwork now, okay? She'll get you all discharged and we can all go back to the hotel and you can have a nice hot bath. But for now you just go ahead and cry."

"It'll be okay, Quinn," Puck said quietly. His mother and sister had gone to do what Rachel had not so subtly suggested, and with fewer people there to witness their grief he had crossed the room as well to join them. He sat down heavily next to Rachel, running a hand briefly over her back in silent thanks. He knew that eventually his words would prove true, but at the moment they just seemed hollow; even so, he couldn't help but repeat them, if only as a prayer that they would come true sooner rather than later. "It'll be okay."

* * *

Mrs. Puckerman drove them back to the hotel in shifts, seeing as they only had Puck's truck. She had rented a second room and kept both for the night, knowing that everyone would be too spent to want to drive back to Lima; though if she was being completely honest with herself she would admit she wanted her son and his friends to be able to take some time to try and heal before they had to return to the harsh reality of questions and inevitable measure of derision that would be coming towards them.

Rachel was sitting on her bed turning Noah over and over in her mind when Quinn emerged from the bathroom they were sharing two hours after giving up her baby girl. Her hair was tangled and wet from her long bath, her eyes red and puffy, but she managed a small smile. "Thank you, Rachel," she said quietly. "For being there."

The brunette shook her head. "You don't have to thank me, Quinn. What you and Noah went through today…." She was momentarily at a loss for words. "I just don't know how you made it through."

"With your help, and Puck's and his family's. You were here for me, and that's what counts in the end."

Rachel knew she was thinking about her parents, so she slapped a happy smile on her face and turned to face Quinn head on. "You know, I've never had a real slumber party."

"Seriously Berry?" Quinn looked positively floored. She knew that Rachel was mostly trying to distract her from the heavy things that had been going on and give her a chance to act like a silly teenager, and she appreciated more than she could express. Still, she couldn't believe that her new found friend had never had a real sleepover. "We can only do a half decent job in a hotel room, but brace yourself, Berry. We're having a slumber party."

* * *

A couple hours later Quinn and Rachel had done a host of girly things that every teenage girl needed once and a while to keep a hold of their girl card. Their hair was braided, their nails painted with the 'pretty in pink' polish the former Cheerio hadn't been at all surprised to find Rachel kept in her purse, and they had filled the hotel notepad with dozens of games of MASH that told them Rachel would one day drive a secondhand Nova and live in a mansion with 19 cats and Quinn would someday own 5 porta potty franchises and drive her Porsche home to her shack every night. They were seriously contemplating trying to turn the honey and sugar that came with the hotel's hot beverages when there was a knock on the door.

Rachel knew that Quinn was still dealing with the aftermath of giving birth, so it was she who bounced over to the door, figuring it was their room service grilled cheese and fries. But when she opened the door she just let out a surprised, "Oh."

The seemingly intense muffled conversation made the other girl's brow furrow. Then a very amazed looking Rachel stepped back into the room with their caller in tow and she suddenly understood. "Finn!" she cried in surprise.

"Can we maybe talk a bit quieter?" he asked with a wince. "It was kind of a long night."

"Yeah sure," she said, sounding dazed and feeling almost painfully hopeful. "But Finn, what are you doing here?"

He rubbed his hand awkwardly over his neck. "I was hoping that… that we could talk I guess."

She barely registered that her eyes were tearing up again as she nodded emphatically. "We can definitely do that."

* * *

Rachel slipped out as Quinn agreed to a talk with Finn. Though she knew she should only feel happy that the two of them were finally going to talk things out, there was a veritable symphony of feelings swirling through her. The spark of hope that had kindled in her in the hospital was barely burning now as she hadn't a clue as to what his taking solace in her meant.

Feeling torn, she leaned back against the wall, sliding to the floor. She must have been relatively out of it, because she didn't even hear anyone approach. She just opened her eyes and found Noah sitting there.

"So," he said softly, those gorgeous hazel eyes boring into hers intensely. "Are you going to tell me what's up?

Note From The Author—Yes, okay, cliffhanger, but I couldn't seem to help myself. Also, never having given birth, I have no clue if I'm right here, so please humor me : ) Also, I don't know how if y'all played the kind of crazy games of MASH that I did when I was younger, but I have so had games of MASH turn out like Quinn and Rachel's. I also need to tell you that I don't own Avenue Q


	11. Chapter 11

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked nervously.

Puck's eyes never left hers. "I mean you've barely said two words when we've talked on the phone the past two days, and let's face it, Berry, you never shut up." Her eyes narrowed but he just kept going. "I'm talking about the fact that you've never broken the law your entire life but last night you decided to get drunk off your ass and cried and apologized when I held you; and now Quinn and Finn are in that room finally talking and you're sitting out here on the floor looking like someone kicked your puppy. So spill."

She found herself quite taken aback by his speech, though it was worded in a very Puck way. Still more she was amazed by how well he seemed to have come to know her and the nuances of her personality. But she still didn't know what to say, and with those eyes unflinchingly holding hers she just couldn't keep the floodgates from opening. Her eyes filled and she shook her head. "Noah, I'm so mixed up."

"Jesus," he said on an expelled breath, making his way to sit next to her. "I hate it when you cry. I don't know what to do with you. You don't have to tell me anything, okay?"

"You're sweet," she told him, finding his panic at her tears kind of endearing. "But I do have to tell you. Everything." Rachel didn't know how to do this kind of thing. Her relationship record was less than stellar and she couldn't seem to find the right words; but she knew she had to take this leap. Though not looking him in the eye made her feel a bit of a coward, she laid her head on his shoulder with a shaky sigh and turned her gaze to their hands which he had just laced together.

The silence was making him beyond antsy, and the way she was staring at their hands and avoiding his eyes was freaking him the hell out. "Rachel?"

She didn't raise her head; wouldn't actually. "I thought… No," she amended. "I was convinced that you wanted to be with Quinn, and that hurt so much more than I ever thought it would."

Well hell, Puck thought. But wait…. "Past tense?" he questioned.

"I told you I'm mixed up, and that would be where the issues started," she whispered. "I thought when you turned to me in the hospital after they took Annabelle that I had been wrong, but then there were all of these doubts nagging in the back of my head. You and Quinn have this bond that can never be broken and I'm just….. I'm just the freak in the show choir who used to get slushied all the time. I'm not tall and blonde and gorgeous or anything she is; and I never had a problem with that until I thought that was what you wanted. "

Noah was shocked to the core. For a moment he lost all powers of speech, though that wasn't new with her. But then he turned to face her, and gently tipped her face up so that their eyes could meet again. "Okay, I'm a dude, so I can only handle one thing at a time in this whole big scary feelings issue or I'll explode. So let's start with what would ever make you think you needed to change for me to like you. Have you missed the past like six months?" he asked incredulously.

"I don't know!" she cried. "Mixed up, remember? I thought you wanted Quinn. There was this moment in the hospital…"

"Point two," he interrupted. "I don't want Quinn. Annabelle will always bring us together, but on a good day we want to kill each other. We almost did in the delivery room, actually."

Rachel's eyes widened. "I thought… Oh God I'm an idiot," she lamented, covering her face with her hands.

He reached out to tip her face to his again. "Babe, you're like the last person on the planet anyone would ever call an idiot." One thumb stroked idly over her cheek as he spoke, comforting her more than he knew. "What you saw in the hospital was all about the baby. That's it." He cracked a smile then. "I like your ridiculously short plaid skirts and the fact that they give me an excuse to stare at your legs all day and your knee socks and your crazy grandma sweaters and shoes. I like that you're so damn short that I practically have to pick you up to look you in the eye."

"Noah…."

He shook his head as he scooted closer to her. "I'm not done. I love that you use words that nobody else can pronounce and that you actually stomp your foot when you don't get your way, and that you sing Avenue Q when you get drunk." He was a breath away from her now. "I love that you constantly kiss my forehead and tell me that everything's going to be okay even though it's like the least manly thing ever to like, and that you stood by me even though I did something my own mother can barely forgive me for and that you went all Martha Stewart and made me hot chocolate and held frozen food against my face when Finn beat the shit out of me."

The tears were happy now, and once again she tried to break in. "I…"

"Nope," he told her, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. "Still not done. I love that even though you thought that I wanted to be with her you stood by Quinn all day and stayed with her and took her mind of all of the heavy crap that went down this morning. You're such a freaking good person and for some reason you stick around even though I'm basically just an ass hole who just got lucky enough to find someone like you."

She was pretty sure it was the most he had ever said in one sitting; and the fact that he had opened up and laid it all out on the line for her? It made her heart sing. So without a word she leaned in and kissed him.

It was something akin to coming home; like how well they fit together had never occurred to them until they had come back to each other after months apart. The world dropped away, and suddenly the only things in existence were Rachel and Puck; his hand at the small of her back and hers twisted in the soft material of his shirt. It was the most intense kiss either had ever had the pleasure of being involved in, and he pressed his back to the wall to keep them from falling as bones seemed to have turned to jelly. Rachel let out a little noise of satisfaction and it made him feel irrationally happy. So he deepened the kiss, his hands skimming up her back…. And then he was flat on the floor.

Evidently in his Rachel fogged state he had actually backed them against the door, which Finn had opened and sent them falling in a rather shocking tangle, much to the surprise of Finn and Quinn.

Finn just looked down at Puck with Rachel tumbled against his chest and smiled. "Wow, nice entrance guys."

Neither had any idea why it was so funny, but Quinn's eyes met Rachels, and for some reason Finn's statement seemed to be the funniest thing ever said. It started out quietly, and before long they were practically roaring, and it didn't take long for the boys to join in. Soon they were all giggling hysterically, Quinn and Finn sliding to sit against the doorway so they didn't fall; all of them taking the catharsis that laughter seemed to be giving them.

The noise drew Puck's mom and sister from their hotel room, and when she saw them his mother only shook her head with a smile and turned around with a chuckle. His sister, however, was staring at them and clearly praying that she too didn't lose her mind when she got to be a teenager.

"You guys are sooooooo weird," she told them seriously.

For some reason it only made them laugh harder.

* * *

Noah's mother agreed to let Finn stay the night as long as the boys shared a bed in her room and stayed out of the girls', and Finn agreed to drive back to Lima with them as Puck's truck wouldn't fit them all.

When they were both in bed that night, Quinn told Rachel about her and Finn's brief talk, and it seemed that though it was going to take a very long time for them to get back to where they had been, they were both more than willing to give it a shot. Between that good news and the fact that Rachel and Puck had finally given in and gotten back together some six months after their failed attempt at romance lulled them both to sleep with grins on their faces.

Back in Lima, Mrs. Puckerman insisted that Quinn stay with them while she recovered from the ordeal of giving birth, and Santana brought over a bunch of her things and stayed for hours while to two talked and Quinn showed her pictures they had taken of the baby in her first days of life. The whole situation weirded Puck out a bit, as Santana was his ex and Quinn was his baby mama, but he had a sneaking suspicion that his mother may have actually planned it that was as a stern warning to treat Rachel well so that he didn't have the same problems with women ever again. Plus no matter how they tended to fight, Santana was Quinn's best friend; and he decided to get over his crap when he walked past the guest room and heard the latter crying over the fact that her parents still hadn't said a word to her and the former cursing said parents creatively to high heaven. Clearly they needed each other, even if it made him twitchy.

He and Rachel returned to school mid week with the rest of the Glee club to find Principal Figgins helping Mr. Schue hang massive banners emblazoned with the words "New Directions, Regional Champs 2010!" Of course most of the school's population couldn't have cared less, and they actually got more compliments on their awesome victory party than they did on the win, but it was still a huge victory.

The new lovebirds didn't get to see much of each other that day as Rachel had a full schedule of academics including a private lesson during lunch hour that day, and Puck had a very busy schedule of avoiding his teachers like the plague and sleeping in the nurse's office. They didn't get any real time together until the extra Glee meeting Mr. Schue had called to talk about their performance and win and get the update on Quinn.

As usual, Rachel bounced through the door right on time; humming quietly to herself; and for once Noah was actually there on time as well. Mostly only because he wanted to ambush his girl and see if he couldn't get a mini make out session in before Mr. Schue got there, but he figured he got points anyway. When Rachel got within arm's distance he snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap.

"Why hello, Noah," she said with a grin, her fingers automatically finding their way to the soft hair of his mohawk. "Miss me, did we?"

He snorted. "Please, dudes don't miss people."

"Don't they?" she asked, rising from his lap. "Well I guess I can just get up then and go about…"

She was cut off abruptly by her own giggle as he pulled her back. "Okay, so maybe I may have missed you, like the tiniest bit."

Her eyes took on a devious glint as she smiled at him. "Prove it."

Never one to back away from a dare, he did indeed prove just how much he had missed her; and he kept on proving it until Mercedes and Kurt started pelting them with writing utensils and making jokes about what their couple nickname should be. Only then did the pair of them part to throw back the gleeks' chosen projectiles.

Then he went right back to proving it.

* * *

Note From The Author—We've reached the end, ladies and gents! I certainly hope that you enjoyed it, and rest assured that if you're wigged out about the end of The Young and the Hopeless there will most definitely be more Puck and Rachel goodness from me in the future. Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope you enjoyed the cutesy funny end of our journey.


End file.
